Gof: The Hexslinger's Tale
by kolchaksghost
Summary: Lily Evans had many secrets, like that she wasn't even from this reality. Desperate to save their unborn son, she and James return to her world. Fourteen years later Dumbles cons the Unspeakables to Summon that child. The Purebloods are about to Behold a Pale Horse as the wizarding world meet a Harry Potter born and bred in the Deadlands. LE/SB, HP/NT/FD/TD/Su Li. Hexslinger Harry!
1. Chapter 1

**GoF: The Hexslinger's Tale**

_Disclaimer: Harry Potter and Deadlands are the Intellectual Property of JK Rowling and Pinnacle Entertainment Group/Great While Games respectively. All recognizable characters belong to them. The only things I own are this story (written for fun and not profit) and any original characters (members of the Quinn family, etc.)._

Prologue: Just another Saturday night in Dodge…

_Dodge House, Dodge City, Kansas – Disputed Territories; Saturday, June 10, 1878_

Dawn was still a little over an hour away but cries of ecstasy bounced off the walls of the hotel room as Mina Devlin continued to vigorously ride the virile young man beneath her through her latest orgasm. It'd been so long since the owner of Black River Railroad had had a satisfying sexual encounter that carnal thoughts were the furthest thing from her mind when she arrived in Dodge for a routine inspection of her local rail line. But that was before she'd seen the young buck that panted beneath her – his own release imminent. The older woman had recognized him from the descriptions given to her by a few of her Wichita Witches; that they'd all worn very sated expressions only lent to Mina's desire to encounter the lad. Even without the accurate description, the Rail Baroness would've taken this man to bed at the earliest opportunity once she felt the power that he barely contained.

As the sun finally crested the horizon, the two lovers fell into a few hours of exhausted sleep. They shared a light breakfast in the privacy of the room before the man known as Gentleman Jim Charles staggered back to his own hotel room across town. It was after the door closed behind him that Mina went over everything she'd heard about him while she planned for their next encounter in the back of her mind.

According to her girls, young Jim showed up in the Disputed Territories about six month ago. Since that time, he established himself as quite the cardsharp and – along with an older sister named Anne Marie – bounty hunter. From her personal experience and the subtle body cues he'd given as she seduced him yesterday afternoon, it was obvious that there was more to Mr. Charles than anyone suspected.

_Long Branch Saloon; Later that night…_

No matter where you went in North America – specifically Canada and the United States – whenever you walked into a saloon you'd be able to find at least one poker game being played. And just like in every major city back East, in every prosperous cow town and boom town had one place where a certain elite class of men and women gathered in a special back room game. Unlike regular games that were all about pitting one's skills against the other people at the table for a pot of cash and getting caught cheating came with severe consequences, the cardsharps in this game weren't interested in money. When these individuals got together, the game was all about how well you cheated and – most importantly – dazzling the other players with your magic.

Now, way back in 1742, a man named Edmond Hoyle wrote a treatise – or booklet – on a card game played by the members of High Society called Whist. Mr. Hoyle was a scholar in the field of games of chance; his original treatise was followed by those for other popular card games as well as probability theory, backgammon and chess. When the original publisher of the books was going out of business, he sold their copyrights to Thomas Osborn. In a stroke of genius, he made a killing when he gathered all of Hoyle's works together and published them in an omnibus edition known the world over as _Hoyle's Book of Games_.

What most people didn't know was that old Edmond was also a scholar in another unique field – that of magic. He spent most of his early life traveling throughout Europe and the British Isles gathering together occult knowledge that had been forgotten or lost for centuries and then collated it into a more convenient format that was the basis for a modern magical discipline. He then encoded those theorems into his published works. It wasn't long before those with a similar esoteric slant discovered the hidden treasures those early treatises contained and began to study magic in earnest. With the release of the omnibus edition in 1748, Mr. Osborn unwitting sent the first true grimoire of the age out into the world and into the eager hands of would be mystics. These _Hucksters_ as they called themselves now were the magicians of the modern era.

When the door to the backroom of the Long Branch Saloon opened, the six people that were already sitting around the table – four men and two women – "Gentleman Jim" Charles walked followed by a beautiful slightly older redheaded woman of exquisite beauty that everyone could tell was kin from certain physical similarities.

"Good evening, my friends, I trust you are doing well. Doc, Velvet, it's a pleasure to see you again," the youth greeted the table first and then the two individuals he actually knew as he sat down; his accent was an odd combination of Welsh and British with an undercurrent that only the most skilled would recognize as French.

Velvet was Velvet Van Helter – a huckster that was the son of a wealthy family down in New Orleans, and a cousin from Jim's mother's side of the family but they hadn't met until the younger man and his sister had traveled to Denver on a job. Not only had the two cardsharps had known it at the time. The pair of Hucksters hit it off and the older man took the younger under his wing. One of the first things Velvet had taught him was how to properly dress – much to the amusement of Anne Marie and the horror of young James.

Doc was none other than the infamous dentist Doc Holiday – who'd come to Dodge to visit he dear friend Wyatt Earp. Besides being a world renowned huckster, Holiday had taken Hoyle's teachings one step further when he created new discipline of hexslinging – using a gun as a magical focus to cast spells. He only taught the new system to those he deemed worthy. The problem with that approach was that as much as he controls who he passes the knowledge to, he can't dictate whom his students later teach. In fact, he has felt the need to hunt down unworthy disciples of his former students and exterminate them because they abused the knowledge they were given. Jim's father was one of Doc's students and taught his son the basics of hexslinging before his untimely death.

A couple hours later, Jim bowed out of the game and escorted his sister back to the hotel room they shared. As they wandered the deserted street the air pressure dropped and heavy thunderclouds rolled in. The young cardsharp suddenly doubled over in pain. Anne Marie understood what was about to happen and wrapped her arms around Jim just as a swirling vortex of energy opened in the middle of the street and sucked them both inside.

_They finally found him_ – was the last thought the older woman had as they passed the threshold of the vortex.

Ch. 1: A Weird New World

_Potter Cottage – Godric's Hollow, Wales; January 31, 1980_

Lily Potter screamed in rage as she threw the hidden monitoring device she'd found against the wall while her husband – James – watched with mild amusement that did nothing to hide his own anger. The crystal vase that shattered was yet another of a series of magical items the couple found around the quaint two-story home that hammered home the fact that the leader they'd placed so much faith in had basically set them up as tethered goats to bait a death trap. After the primal noise died in her throat, the redheaded witch started to pace briskly back and forth across the living room.

"That's it, I've had enough. James, call Sirius and tell him to get his arse over here because we're out of here. Fuck Dumbledore! Fuck those bloody inbred pureblood twats that are hell bent on committing genocide! This world can burn for all I care; the only thing that matters is you, me, our unborn child and Sirius. I've had everything to perform the ritual need to send us to my home stashed away but held off on doing it because I'd hoped we'd be able to make a difference and stop the war from dragging on. Between Dumbledore, Voldemort and the Ministry I've come to understand that the wizarding world here and a large portion of Europe is doomed. It's time to cut our losses and get out while we still can. I refuse to bring a child into this nightmare," Lily finally decreed determinately.

James felt a wave of guilt pass over him by the time his wife finished because he knew at least part of what she'd said was a lie. Lily had collected everything needed for the ritual and wanted to cast it back in their fifth year at Hogwarts when the mutual loss of both sets of parents (although in her case they were foster parents) had secretly brought the couple together. Hell, each time things took a turn for the worse she suggested using the ritual. Each time – from fifth year to now – it'd been James that talked her off the proverbial ledge and got her to agree to wait. At first, it was out of a need to get revenge on the bastards that murdered his parents but later shifted to stubborn belief that they'd beat the Dark Arsehole and his minions. And if he were completely honest with himself, more than a little fear of the unknown that the ritual inspired.

The bespectacled wizard raised his arm then snapped off a quick Patronus Charm. When the ghostly form of a majestic stag materialized – one that mirrored his own animagus form – he whispered in its ear. It took off running through the far wall after he finished his message and then he turned back to his wife.

"I told Padfoot that he needed to get his shite together and be here no later than 11 am tomorrow morning because we're leaving at noon. The two of us will use the time between now and then to pack everything going with us and booby trap the bloody hell out of this place in case Voldemonkey decides to show up," James explained and pulled Lily into a hug. Neither one of them commented on the fact that the action hadn't sparked any of the passion that they'd once shared. Whereas she blamed all the stress the couple was under, he knew the truth but was too much of a coward in this respect to tell her.

"Well, I've already had two-thirds of the Potter fortune and a select cache of heirlooms and artifacts packed up and ready to go so all we really need to work on is whatever you had in mind for the house," the redhead admitted with a wry smile and brief peck on James' lips before the couple separated. The pureblood lord guided the woman through the modest dwelling explaining exactly what he wanted done; all the while he reviewed just how they'd gotten to this point.

Lily had always had her doubts and freely expressed them on a regular basis but for James it had only been the past year that he could no longer ignore what she'd saying or the evidence he'd seen with his own two eyes. In the last twelve months had seen half the Order of the Phoenix's operational forces and a third of the Ministry's Auror Corps wiped out due to a combination of poor intelligence and Dumbledore's incessant decree against the use of lethal force along with his other questionable decisions. The men and women that were lost weren't just faceless members of the masses but people that James had known all of his life.

If that wasn't enough, then there was that moronic prophecy. Two months ago Dumbledore had called he, Lily and Frank and Alice Longbottom to a meeting to discuss something of vital importance to the war effort. The two couples assembled in their former Headmaster's office only to be told that asinine drivel. Both young Lords and their wives outright rejected the validity and left before the senile fool was able to tell them his brilliant plan to capitalize on the information. A week later, James and Frank had been asked to attend another meeting with Dumbledore which ended with a couple of compulsion charms and the Potter's – at least – trapped in their current accommodations. On top of that compulsion, one of the wards on the cottage prevented the pair from telling anyone the truth about the Headmaster outside of the dwelling.

_Hogsmead Village – Scotland; Friday, February 1, 1980 – 9 am_

Sirius Black was finishing up the last of his packing when the wards around his flat alerted him to a couple of unwanted visitors. He sighed as he came to understand that he wasn't going to be able to go with Prongs and Lily-flower but at least he was going to keep his guests too busy to stop them from making a clean getaway. With the grace expected from the heir of one of the Old Families, he glided into the living room to greet the unwelcome arrivals.

_Potter Cottage – Noon_

James glanced up at the clock for the hundredth time in the past hour and cursed; something was up and Sirius wasn't coming. With an expression of sadness he looked over at Lily and gave her the nod to start the ritual. While the redheaded witch chanted in French, he tugged on the cuffs of the shirt that when with the outfit his wife picked out for him so that he'd blend in with the locals at their destination. He felt idiotic but his disgruntlement gave way to astonishment as a vertical shaft of greenish energy formed before them and then morphed into a swirling vortex. Lily handed him a blindfold and instructed him to wear it until they got to where they were going otherwise he might panic over what he saw during the journey.

Reluctantly, he complied and then she guided him through the vortex. He felt the strange magic as they passed through the boundaries of the vortex. After what felt like hours of walking, he felt them move through another vortex and then stop. He removed the blindfold found himself face to face with a rather well used revolver.

_Roanoke Island, North Carolina, USA; Monday, February 14, 1860_

Isobel Antoinette Quinn nee Le Croix watched as her only daughter walked out of the portal guiding a blindfolded man with her. Once they were out of the portal it closed behind them. The veela arched an eyebrow in accusation when she noticed that her _Petite Fleur_'s free hand rested protectively over her stomach. Without realizing it, she'd leveled the Colt revolver her husband insisted she carry with her at all times in the blindfolded man's face. The shocked look on his face when he saw the gun after removing the blindfold caused her to smirk.

"Maman, put that away; this is my husband James," Lily cried indignantly as she moved to place herself in front of him. That she'd spoken in English instead of French told the older woman at least one thing about the unknown male.

"An Englishman," Isobel huffed but any other comments she planned to make were cut off by her daughter.

"No, Maman, James and his family are Welsh; not that that matters because Papa is from Irish stock," the redhead countered with an arched eyebrow of her own.

Isobel lowered her gun with a laugh and then pulled her daughter into a hug. When she released the younger veela, she held out her hand to her newly acquired son-in-law and introduced herself. "I am Madam Isobel Antoinette Quinn – Lily's mother and Matriarch of the Veela Nation in Exile."

"A pleasure to finally meet you; I am Lord James Charlus Potter, Head of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter and Baron Aberavon," James replied after he kissed the back of the offered hand.

"Peerages in both the magical and muggle worlds, very good but the weather is a little too wet and there is much to discuss; let us continue someplace more comfortable for all of us. My brother-in-law and his family live in the Quinn Family home in Fayetteville so I shall make a portkey to take us there. I would prefer making one to my home it is just too far to risk due to the dangers of portkey travel here," the blonde woman acknowledged before turning a length of rope into a magical transport device. The younger couple grabbed ahold of the piece of hemp just as it started to glow. With the familiar feeling of being hooked behind their navels followed by a jerk, the three adults blinked out of existence then reappeared behind a moderately sized two-story house.

"Aaron and his family were invited to stay with friends in Raleigh for the week; therefore we have the house to ourselves. Lily can show you around while I see to making us some tea and something to tide us over until dinner," Isobel commented while she led them inside.

James gawked as Lily showed him their room and various parts of the house. He knew his wife's family lived as muggles but everything he'd seen so far looked just like the pictures in Padfoot's Muggle Studies book. A book that Lily always claimed was over a hundred years out of date. The wizard felt the beginnings of a headache that threatened to split his skull open as he tried to figure out the obvious discrepancy.

_Quinn House – Fayetteville, North Carolina_

The chimes from the grandfather clock in the parlor sounded two o'clock as the Potter's joined Isobel in the dining room. Small plates of bread and cheese were set before three chairs at the table and tea was just being poured as they sat down. The trio ate and drank in silence for a few minutes before starting what promised to be a very long conversation. Noticing the puzzled expression James wore, his mother-in-law decided to get things underway.

"James, you obviously have some questions so please ask," the blonde observed. Her natural French accent softening until it was hardly noticeable.

"Okay, I know that we're in the Muggle World but this is nothing like what Lily showed me the summer before our sixth year. Everything here looks straight out of the Muggle Studies textbook but that can't be right unless we somehow managed to travel back in time. Just where are we," he addressed the Hippogriff in the room.

"You were very close to the truth but it is not as simple as that. The portal that my daughter opened brought you not just through time but to another Earth – a different world. My people first came here from your world just before the start of the muggle Second World War. It is common knowledge that Grindelwald used his puppet – Hitler – to start that conflict to masque his own attacks on the wizarding world of Europe. What is not as well known is that he tried something similar in the early 1900's; his agents were the ones actually responsible for the assassination of the Arch Duke Ferdinand. The only reason he failed in his designs as he lacked the allies to pull it off.

"Not long after the Arch Dukes demise, Grindelwald requested an audience with representatives of the Veela Nation. After much deliberation a delegation of three was sent – one representative for each of the three Veela Colonies – to meet with the budding Dark Lord. He wanted the backing of our people in his bid for conquest but was rebuffed when he revealed his true intentions due to the veritaserum that had been slipped into his drink. In retaliation for our refusal and for being so easily tricked into revealing his actual plan he destroyed one of the colonies and left no survivors as a warning to the rest of the Veela Nation.

"When he began his second bid for power, it was understood that our Nation was faced with annihilation if he succeeded. The Matriarch of our colony in Southern France practically impoverished the colony by contracting the Niebelung Dwarves to hide it behind both fatal wards and Dwarven Fidelius Charm. As Matriarch of the colony in Northern France, I chose to take a different route. I made a hasty pilgrimage to see the Oracle in the ruins of Delphi. The ancient witch told me that my people would only survive if we fled to a new world. She gave me the ritual that led us here. On Halloween night in 1932, I and the members of my colony performed the ritual.

"We arrived in Acadia after we stepped through the portal that was opened. It took us three years to acclimate to this new world mostly due to the fact that magic was different here and we had to learn how integrate it with our own natural magic along with how to exist in this place. Eventually, we left Acadia and migrated down through Canada and all the way to Louisiana – just outside of Baton Rouge. It was 1800 when we arrived but over the next decade the three hundred Veela that came with me thrived. As a race, the veela always breed true but instead of only having daughters like in our old world the magic of this one allowed us the ability to have sons as well.

"Ma Petite Fleur was five when one of our Seers had a vision that the time had come to send one of our own back to our former home to learn what happened during our exile. While we debated on who to send, the same Seer had a second vision that our emissary would be a child… my child. It took several months of arguing before my Nathan agreed to let our little girl go.

"One of the things we learned after coming to this world was that the Gringotts existed here as well. The goblins are actually a race that originated in the Hunting Grounds and maintained permanent stable portals through it to their banks through the worlds. I went to them and they arranged for Lily to cross through with all the necessary paperwork to place her in foster care. Aside from letters delivered via the goblins, this is the first time that my daughter has come home."

James sat in silence while he digested both the food and what his mother-in-law told him. Despite being raised in the Wizarding World, it was difficult to wrap his mind around the existence of parallel worlds and yet the proof was all around him. He snorted in mild amusement when he realized why Lily had insisted that he read all of those muggle Western novels and then went back to mental reconciliation. While he was busy doing that, Lily was enduring an interrogation from her mother – in French to keep it private when the younger woman let slip that her husband hadn't learned it yet.

Isobel finished firing off her questions then sat back and listened to her daughter's answers. Every now and then she'd stop Lily and ask her to clarify some point or another. The older woman tried not to show jealousy as she listened to her child describe life with her foster family – the Evans, whose name she adopted for her education and hide her heritage. During the explanation of Lily's Hogwarts years and the Wizarding World as a whole Isobel became distressed that not much had changed since their exile. If anything, the bigotry and intolerance of the Pureblood Elitists had gotten worse. Listening to the atrocities committed by the Dark Lord Voldemort – the Matriarch of the Veela Nation laughed at such an obviously false name – convinced her that at some point in the near future she was going to send an offer for their Sisters back in Southern France to join them. This world might not be totally safe with all the whisperings of a coming War Between the States but it was still a better place to live than there former home.

The blonde woman had laughed as she learned about the Mating Dance the redhead had forced her husband to go through but a quick check of their bond showed her that something was off about it. Nothing bad per se but it wasn't as strong as it should be; it was more like that of one shared between close friends instead of that of the one between lovers and mates. That was something to think about later because she was shocked when her Petite Fleur admitted that she actually fought in Blood War that raged back there. Then the discussion moved on to Lily's pregnancy and her expected due date – the end of July. This of course led to the mentioning of the so-called prophecy that Dumbledore tried to force upon her and James.

Isobel had been angry when she heard about that last bit of foolishness that she had to flee outside before she transformed and set the house ablaze. She was much calmer after she returned from venting her rage out back. The veela was equally happy that there were no neighbors for miles so there were no witnesses to her magical temper tantrum. James proved to be ready to get back into the conversation when she sat down. The three adjourned to the parlor after the older woman informed the cook to start on dinner.

The rest of the day and evening was spent coming up with plans for what the budding family's next moves were going to be. Not even the hearty stew that served as their supper stopped the back and forth between them. It wasn't until the grandfather clock chimed 10 that basic plan was agreed upon. Because Lily's pregnancy was far enough along, apparation was only to be used as a last resort and side-along apparation not at all. A portkey to Louisiana was out for reasons explained earlier and muggle transportation was too slow and hazardous in its own right to get them there safely. Portals through the Hunting Grounds – which James still had no clue as to what they were – were out as well but Isobel never went into why that was.

In the end, it was decided that they would remain in North Carolina with Aaron Quinn's family until after the baby was born. Between the three of them they would set up a temporary private floo network between the Fayetteville house and Lily's parents' home in order for her father – Nathan – to visit as often as he like and his work permitted. When asked when his father-in-law did for a living, Isobel had taken perverse pleasure in informing the man that defiled her little girl that her husband was a Texas Ranger. She smirked when she watched the color drain from his face. What she hadn't known at the time was that Lily had forced James to read several novels that featured Rangers as primary characters.

Once mother and child were safe to travel, the family was going to head out West. Whether the Potter's settled in Louisiana or Texas was still up for debate. At some point James wanted to do some exploring. In the meantime, the Quinn's were going to help the refugee wizard get acclimatized to his new home and Lily back into the swing of things. As soon as the kids disappeared back upstairs, Isobel let out a sigh then concentrated on opening a Portal and then stepped through into the comfort of her husband's loving arms. She just needed to make sure that she was back before morning.

_Campsite, Eastern Texas_

Nathan Thomas "Nate" Quinn had sat impatiently by his campfire as he waited for his beloved Izzy to show up. The Texas Ranger had been on the trial for the better part of the past month and had looked forward to spending some time alone with his missus but that changed after he received one of the spectral animal messengers – a patron, or something like that – that told him their daughter was coming home. It had been seventeen years since he'd seen his precious little girl and he was anxious for any news. Finally, as he reached the point where he couldn't wait any longer, Izzy strode through a Portal that opened on the other side of the fire. Just from her expression he knew something was wrong so he quickly moved toward her then wrapped her still sexy form in his strong arms.

"**What**," the lawman yelled once Isobel filled him in on all she'd learned. She smiled when he fingered his gun when he heard his baby was expecting.

**AN: I know it's bad form to start another story when it's been so long since I've updated any of the others. Since my last updates work and illness kept me pretty tied down but last month – while writing a new chapter for Lost Family – my computer crashed… hard. Not only was everything I'd been typing get wiped out, everything on my hard drive (which included all of my stories) was gone as well. Not even the backup on the recovery disk survived. It was only last week that I discovered that I'd remembered to at least copy Lost Family, Midshipman Potter and the WTF File onto the flash drive I'd let my niece borrow to save her English homework on.**

**The bottom line to all of that is that as of now the only three active stories I have at the moment are the two actual stories mentioned above and this one – the result of a two day Adventures of Brisco County Jr. and finding an a box of my old Deadlands stuff. Eventually, Unchained will be reposted as a friend is currently copy and pasting it from FF; however, it will be edited to remove the Unspeakables plotline because looking back on it I just had too much already going on in the story.**

**I hope to have new chapters for Lost Family and Midshipman Potter posted by next weekend at the latest. Until then, I hope you all enjoy my latest crossover.**


	2. Chapter 2

**GoF: The Hexslinger's Tale**

_Disclaimer: See Chapter 1._

Ch. 2: Time Marches On

_Quinn House – Fayetteville, North Carolina; November 9, 1860_

James smiled as he watched his just-over-three-month-old son sleeping in the handmade crib that had been in the Quinn family for a hundred years; it had been made by a Quinn patriarch for his pregnant wife days before they'd left Ireland bound for the American Colonies. It was a history that as the Head of one of the Most Ancient and Noble Houses of his old world he could appreciate. He backed out of the room being careful not to wake the napping toddler then moved downstairs where he joined the others in the parlor. Lily gave him a kiss as he settled next to her on the love seat. Isobel and Kate – Aaron's wife – were sitting in chairs closer to the fireplace as they each worked on their needle work. At the other end of the room, Aaron and Nathan could be heard discussing the mounting tensions between the North and South.

In the nearly nine months since their arrival, the Welsh pureblood had mostly adapted to his new home. While he enjoyed the illusion of peace and the simpler lifestyle of this world, the one hurdle he hadn't been able to overcome was actually magical. Wands being too blatant, James was having a hard time learning to do wandless casting. His wife and mother-in-law had been a big help describing the different branches of magic used he but for some reason he wasn't able to make the leap between the magic he grew up with and one of the branches used here let alone how to blend styles. It was borderline depressing but there was one silver lining, he took to shooting with pistols like a duck to water. Now that Lily and little Harry had been given the all clear, he was looking forward to moving but that wasn't going to happen until after they celebrated his first Thanksgiving.

_Potter Home – Baton Rouge, Louisiana, CSA; April 23, 1862_

With a large chunk of his family's wealth brought with them, neither James nor Lily had to work or worry about going without. That being said, once the young family had settled into their recently acquired home, James decided it was time to do something meaningful with his life. He'd been an Auror back _there_ and found he'd actually enjoyed the work. With Nate's encouragement and reference (along with a set of forged documents provided by the goblins that showed he'd been a Constable at Scotland Yard) he managed to get hired on as a Deputy Marshall in Baton Rouge. Then Civil War broke out and he found himself in a moral dilemma.

Having dealt with a corrupt central government in his previous life, James was now a diehard supporter of State's Rights. The Texas Rangers had been reassigned to be part of the Confederate States Cavalry and his father-in-law offered to get him a Captain's Commission in the Rangers if he wanted it. His problem came from the fact that he'd already fought in a war and now had a family that depended upon him.

Lily was the one that helped ease his conscious over the choice he wanted to make. It hadn't been long after the birth of their son that the redhead chose to confront the issue that she and James had been tap dancing around for so long – the fact that while they loved each other they weren't in love with each other. In fact both had been acting as if they were missing their mates even before the pregnancy. Her husband was forced to admit what he'd known since their wedding and despite shocking her because she hadn't made the connection sooner, it wasn't all that surprising.

At the end of their seventh year, the couple – along with Sirius and his fiancée, Marlene – decided that they no longer wanted to wait until after they were married to consummate their lover. Unfortunately, they chose the night of the school's Quidditch final as the perfect opportunity because everyone was going to be too busy celebrating the Gryffindor win to notice if Sirius and Marlene never slept in their dorms instead of Lily's room in the suite the Head Boy and Girl shared. The problem arose when the four seventeen-year-olds had gotten a little too drunk. While the girls went off to the Head's Suite to get ready, the boys decided to have one last round of liquid courage before meeting up with their significant others. From there what happened was a comedy of errors.

As the boys downed their last drinks, Lily and Marlene stumbled into the right bedroom but had been too drunk to turn on any lights as they stripped and crawled into the beds where they waited for their men to show up. James and Sirius being even more drunk entered the wrong rooms and in the natural progression of things they had sex with the other's future bride; a fact that the couples learned when they finally woke from their drunken and sex induced stupors.

After reminding her of the incident, James went on to explain what happened. The loss of a witch's virginity had the potential to cause the beginnings of a Soul Bond between her and the wizard that claimed it if their magic was found to be compatible. Which is apparently what happened with between the four of them; James accidently bonded with Marlene just as she'd done the same with Sirius. While the bond hadn't immediately stopped the pair from loving each other, it had slowly started to change the expression of it in order for them to be with their bond mates. James hadn't cottoned to the truth until after they exchanged vows and the Family Magic snapped into place. In the wizarding world there was no such thing as divorce, only annulment and that only happened with marriages arranged by contract.

There was about a minute of silence after that revelation but then Lily soldiered forward as it were. She thanked James for telling her the truth and admitted that she wasn't mad that he hadn't told her soon because there was nothing the two of them could do about it. They were too good of friends for her to let that come between them and besides, they still loved each other and absolutely adored their little Harry James. After that, she gave him the metaphorical swift kick in the ass when she told him to take up her father's offer.

Two weeks later, he was off to a truncated boot camp just over the border in Texas before he joined up with Nate's Company.

_Le Croix Home – Baton Rouge, Louisiana, CSA; July 31, 1865_

Harry Potter blew out the candles on his birthday cake while his mother and grandmother watched on with teary smiles. Lily and her son had moved into her parents'/mother's house the same day James had gone off to war two years ago. The same war that was going on today and looked to continue on for the foreseeable future; not that the frequent letters home from their wayward husband eased the women's worries any. If anything it made the men's absences worse. Regardless, the two veela and several of their Sisters went about their daily lives and prayed that if the conflict didn't end soon then at least their husbands returned.

Lily read a letter James had to Harry for his birthday and cried even harder when the precious angel needed a minute before he recognized the picture of his father included in the envelope.

_Le Croix Home – Baton Rouge; January 3, 1868_

Isobel Quinn smiled as she finished the letter from her Nathan. Seven-year-old Harry had been quietly reading the new Dime Novel his mother had bought him but stopped when he noticed his grandmother's expression.

"Grandmother, what has you looking so happy," the boy asked in perfect French. From the time he learned to talk, his family insisted he learn his ancestral tongues. So along with English, Harry was now fluent in French, Welsh, Irish Gaelic and Latin. That latter only added because it was the default language of magic in his dad's world and this one to a lesser extent.

"The letter I just finished was from you grandfather; thanks to President Davis declaring the Texas Rangers as the Confederacy's National Police Force his Company has been reassigned so he and your Papa will be coming home for two months at the end of the week," she replied in the same language.

The boy became so excited with the prospect of seeing his dad again that he lost control of his magic. The wave of mystical energy that rolled out from his body and throughout the house is what drew his mom into the parlor with a worried expression on her face. She relaxed when his grandma told her what had set him off. After giving Harry a kiss on the forehead, she shooed him outside to go play outside before dinner. Twin pairs of eyes followed the young boy out of the room but not a word was spoken until they both heard the front door close.

"Harry's magic is getting stronger, it is only by sheer luck that he hasn't lost control of it while in school but I fear that is only matter of time," Isobel opened the discussion.

"Yes, it might be time to transfer him to the Veela School down in New Orleans. Perhaps even get him a deck of cards as he already has a strong grasp on _Hoyle's Book of Games_," Lily offered. With side-along apparation such a switch wasn't just feasible, it went a long way to solving another potential problem as well.

From infancy, little Harry had had some pretty strong bouts of accidental magic. So much so that they'd managed to scare the North Carolina Quinn's; after the first incident, Isobel had cast a number of diagnostic charms on the child and had been floored by the results. Her grandson – the Potter Heir – proved to have the perfect balance of the Veela's innate elemental magic, the wizarding magic of his father's line and the Spirit based magic that dominated this world. He was going to grow up into a powerful magic user as he got older. On top of that, he also had to contend with the Allure of his race. Thankfully, it wasn't as strong in male veela as it was in the females but it still caused no end of problems while they learned to control it. That was one of the reasons the Veela Nation in Exile had built a school specifically for their children to learn in a safe environment.

"I agree and shall send a patronus to Giselle to let her and the teachers know to expect him on Monday. Although, I think you should hold off on the getting him the playing cards as I have an old Tarot deck that belonged to my grandmother that I want to pass on to him. Giselle would insist on the Tarot anyway because she despises poker. There will be time enough to delve into the esoteric part of that game later. Besides, his cousins will be more than happy show him," the Veela Matriarch agreed.

_Potter Cottage – Godric's Hollow, Wales (Original World); October 31, 1981_

James and Lily had been back a week but still hadn't managed to meet with Sirius yet. At his insistence, they managed to convince the goblins to get a message through to Padfoot. After an initial response to that letter that contained an affirmation that Black still wanted to get the hell out of England, there had been nothing else. The Potter's had come back to this shithole in order to help their friend escape but the continued silence was worrisome. Day turned to evening and evening faded into night but still Sirius failed show up. It became clear that something was preventing him from joining them again.

After waiting for as long as the couple could, Lily opened a Portal into the Hunting Grounds. She turned to make a comment to James when the two of them felt the wards trip seconds before the front door exploded inward from a Blasting Hex that set off the surprise they put in place for the Dork Wanker. The first part of which was a set of Anti-Apparation and Anti-Portkey wards that activated on the inside of the house. The last part were the special ward stones that had been imbedded into the walls that siphoned off the magic from the exterior wards as well as the ambient magic of in the area and turned the house into a giant bomb set to go off in less than a minute.

James pulled his wand and fired off every offensive spell in his repertoire at their enemy while Lily concentrated on holding the Portal open. When the psychotic bastard known – Voldemort – walked into the cottage and realized his quarry was about to escape, he opted not to toy with the Potter's but went straight for the kill. Soon a barrage of Killing Curses streaked their way toward the young couple but they wisely chose not to stick around for any of them to connect. With a one fingered salute, James Potter dove through the Portal with his along with his wife. Unfortunately, one of the curses made it through before the Portal was able to close and struck the veela witch in the back.

But as it so happens, Fate wasn't done with Lily Potter just yet. A Nature Spirit had been near and watched as the Portal opened and then closed. Seeing the woman's soul leaving her body, the Spirit felt the overwhelming urge to intercede. It closed the distance between them, latched on to the soul and slammed it back into the body while at the same time merging with it. What it had done was something only Manitous were able to do and in its lack of understanding of the process the Nature Spirit ended up sacrificing its own identity. Before a single tear could be shred over her loss by her husband/best friend, Lily Potter opened her eyes and rejoined the world of the living as one of the Harrowed – albeit a very unique Harrowed. She led a shocked James back home but was unable to keep either her son or mother from recognizing her undead state.

_Riverside Docks – St. Louis, Missouri, CSA; Friday, August 13, 1870_

Captain James Potter of the Texas Rangers had only taken three steps off the gangway from the riverboat when a figure dressed all in black with several law badges decorating his overcoat stepped from behind some stacked crates and blocked the Ranger's path. Thanks to his trusty Ranger's Bible, James recognized the man in front of him as Stone. That was all he had time to register before the bastard put six rounds through his heart. The last thing he saw was the undead gunslinger casually walked over then tore the Lone Star Badge from his chest with a smile. As the life ebbed from his body he was granted a glimpse of the future and knew Harry and Lily were going to kick a lot of ass but wind up happy.

_Potter Home – Baton Rouge, Louisiana, CSA; July 31, 1876_

After receiving Special Dispensation from the Governors of both Louisiana and Texas, Harry James Potter was allowed to enlist in the Texas Rangers on his sixteenth birthday. He was the youngest person to enter any branch of the Confederate Military legally. With his mother and grandmother watched with tear filled eyes Lt. Col. Nathan Quinn – Chief of Scouts for the Rangers – swore the young man in. Nate was going to escort his grandson to boot camp in a couple of days.

_Austin, Texas, CSA; August 29, 1876_

Harry was wondering why he hadn't just apparated home to visit his mom after the Captain handed everyone their Weekend Passes. Instead, he found himself wandering through Austin with a pair of Ranger Recruits that he honestly annoyed him to no end. He was finally able to ditch them with a couple of Soiled Doves in that last saloon they dragged him into. Not that he was against the idea of spending some time in bed with a woman; it was just that he really just wanted to spend some time alone after sharing all of his time with his fellow recruits. Besides, while all the saloon gals he'd met had been beautiful, none had that quality that made him want them to be his first.

A feminine scream from a nearby alley drew his attention and he went to investigate. What he found was five men getting ready to attack a very attractive black haired woman. Reacting on instinct along, he drew his cards instead of his gun and focused on his magic. The attack he unleashed was fast, furious and extremely fatal for the would be rapists. Fate showed just how much of a sense of humor she had at that moment. The bodies weren't even cold when the almost victim launched herself at her rescuer and pushed him into a wall while crashing her lips into his. Any sense of decorum or control went out the window once her hand snaked its way into his pants and under ware to grip his member. It wasn't long before Harry found himself sheathed inside the woman.

As she rode him like a bronco she was trying to break, he felt a slight pain in his neck followed by a wet sucking sensation. It wasn't until after he'd come down from his post coital bliss and he felt her licking the wound on his neck that he cottoned on to the fact that his recent and first lover was a vampire. To add insult to injury she flashed him a smile before she glided away, her laughter drifting back over her shoulder.

The second he returned to base, the raven haired youth was ordered to report to the Colonel's office. A brief but shocking meeting followed that ended with Harry being transferred to the "Regimental Band" – the unit made up of all the supernatural types. Later that evening he learned that the vampire with whom he had his tryst was wanted for questioning for the deaths of several of the city's most prominent citizens. Little did he know that one encounter was going to follow him in the form of an unhealthy attraction to Bad Girls.

_Potter Home – Baton Rouge, Louisiana, CSA; September 5, 1876_

"**Harry**," Lily Potter nee Quinn shouted as her son and only child apparated into the entryway of the house and then launched herself at him.

For his part, the Potter Heir and newly minted Corporal in the Texas Rangers wasn't surprised by his mom's reaction as he hadn't sent word that he was coming home. Not that he was going to be there for more than a week. After completing boot camp and getting promoted, Harry had been summoned to the Commandant's Office. It shouldn't have shocked him when the Commandant personally explained the new Ranger's assignment. The older man had been following Harry's progress ever since he'd received his Special Dispensations and even more so after a long talk with Lt. Col. Quinn after the incident in Austin revealed his magic. Wanting to capitalize on the Ranger's relative youth and his skills as a Huckster and Hexslinger, the Commandant decided to remove the young man from regular duty in favor of being a deep cover operative – only participating in normal Ranger activities if there was no other choice.

An hour of catching up later, mother and son moved the reunion to his grandparents' house. Isobel had been just as excited to see Harry as Lily was but smacked him on the back of the head after she finished giving him a hug and kiss to welcome him home. When the lad asked what that had been for while he rubbed his aching head, the Veela Matriarch went off on a tear about his sorted encounter with the female vampire. Apparently, she'd heard the story from one of the Rangers that came to speak with his grandfather when the older man had been home for a visit. Needless to say, Lily soon went off on a tear of her own but she had to tamp down the laughter that wanted to bubble up from within her because she knew James – and even Sirius – would've been found the situation funny.

Over dinner Harry told the women about his new assignment and the need to come up with a believable cover. Between the three of them they were able to hammer an identity and history that with the help of the Gringotts goblins was going to be flawless. And so James Charles was born; the younger son of a wealthy British family whose older half-brother exiled him from the family home and now had to seek his fortune out in the World. Much to his chagrin, the women managed to even work his mother into the cover as his older sister (Lily was tired of staying at home and wanted some excitement in her life) – the three Charles children shared the same father but only James and Anne Marie had the same mother. The disenfranchised Charles siblings decided to try their hand at Bounty Hunting; which they supplemented with James' skill at cards.

Two days later, the last remaining Potter's took their goblin forged documentation to the Ranger Headquarters in Baton Rouge. After a thorough examination by C.O., the pair had to apparate to Texas for a review of the paperwork by the Commandant himself. The Head Ranger was shocked with just how perfect everything for the new covers was and asked where they'd gotten them from. That led to another truth about the Weird West being revealed – the existence of the Goblin Nation and Gringotts Bank. This, in turn, ended up in a meeting with the local Gringotts branch manager and a contract between the goblins and the Texas Rangers to provide all of the Rangers' documentation for cover identities.


	3. Chapter 3

**GoF: The Hexslinger's Tale**

_Disclaimer: See Chapter 1._

Ch. 3: Precision Crafted German Engineering

_Denver, Colorado – Disputed Territories; December 17, 1877_

Gentleman Jim Charles stumbled out of the private car reserved members of the Wichita Witches – the enforcers for Black River Railroad – after the train stopped at the station. The smirk that graced his face as he walked off in search of a hotel grew when he glanced over his shoulder and noticed he sated expression worn by the buxom redheaded leader of the group of Witches that had been on the train as protection on the way to Denver. He'd sensed her magic and the tang of danger that clung to her like a second skin – just like the clothes she wore. Things got out of hand after she'd sensed the mix of his aura and Allure. Next thing he knew, he was being dragged into the private car where the Witch had her wicked way with him – not that anyone would've heard him complain.

_Thank Merlin Mom decided to visit Gran otherwise I'd catch no end of hell but it was sooo worth it _– the huckster thought as he continued on into town. The original plan to find a room was quickly scrapped in favor of finding a bath house after Jim caught a whiff of the of the lingering scent of his earlier activities. Along the way, he stopped at the first haberdashery he came across and bought a set of basic travel clothes.

_O'Rourke's Saloon, later that night…_

After the long soak at the bath house, Gentleman Jim settled on accommodations at the Inter Ocean Hotel. It might've been one of the newer hotels in town but it was one of the best as the result of word of mouth because of the service. The owner – a black entrepreneur named Barney Ford – had given the huckster a quick once over then automatically suggested the best place to find a game with a sedate atmosphere. A quick nap and steak dinner later found the young gambler and bounty hunter walking into O'Rourke's just to get a feel for its ambiance for himself.

"Young James," a familiar voice called out in Southern drawl before he'd made it ten steps toward the bar.

The undercover Texas Ranger was never happier that his parents had taught him the wizard magic from his dad's former world than right at that moment. Using a Shrinking Charm, he gave the appearance of traveling with just the clothes on his back while the truth was that he carried a fully stocked trunk in his pocket. That meant he had been able to don a proper suit before leaving his hotel instead of putting on the clothes he purchased earlier.

"Velvet, it's been a while," the younger man greeted his friend and older cousin. He also glanced at the two others that shared the table with Velvet. One was an attractive woman with long black hair and the other was a rough looking man with long red hair pulled back into a ponytail with a matching bushy mustache. Even from where he stood, his trained eye took in the fact that Red was Harrowed.

"Indeed it has my friend. Please allow me to introduce my companions – the lovely lady on my right is "Bad Luck" Betty McGrew (the named woman squawked indignantly at the nick name) and the infamous gunslinger Ronan Lynch," Velvet Van Helter introduced his friends and now the younger man had faces to put with the names he'd heard about from his cousin in the past.

"My friends, allow me to introduce you to the legend in the makin' – James "Gentleman Jim" Charles from across the pond where his family makes their home in London. He is a fellow poker enthusiast and amateur manhunter," the New Orleans native continued with the introductions and then offered Jim a seat at the table.

Jim gave the undead gunslinger a curt nod before he took the hand offered to him by the only woman at the table and kissed the back of it with a smile. That same smile threatened to get bigger when he noticed how his cousin, Velvet, bristled at the action. He still owed the older huckster a little payback for when the prat went running to his mama with tales of Harry cheating him at the card table then wasting his ill gotten gains at a Bawdy House. Naturally, his mom told Grandma Isobel, who told Lily, who in turn laid into her unsuspecting son the next time she saw him. It had taken hours to convince the redheaded veela that it had all been a practical joke at his expense because Harry had mocked the eye watering yellow velvet suit that his cousin had been wearing the last time the pair had run into each other.

"A pleasure indeed; while it is good to finally have faces to put with the names he often spoke of, he was quite remiss in mentioning the stunning beauty of Miss McGrew," the Ranger commented in the Welsh/British combination accent that went with his cover.

"Aren't you the silver tongued devil? I've spent too much time around Velvet here and near constant flirtations so don't think y'all will get any farther than he has," Betty commented and pulled her hand from his.

Jim/Harry then learned firsthand just why her nick name was Bad Luck. The dark haired woman had used too much strength – perhaps under the belief that he wasn't going to let go of her hand – and overbalanced. As her chair tipped over, it and she crashed into man that had been walking behind her. The pair ended up on the floor with their limbs tangled together. While Ronan shook his head in mild annoyance, Velvet just managed a small smile at the all too regular occurrence. Gentleman Jim just shook his head in disbelief as his eyes gazed on the reason for his trip underneath the woman his cousin was obviously deeply smitten with.

With practiced ease, he pulled the 1868 model Webbly Bulldog from the special shoulder rig that kept it concealed inside his jacket. All eyes in the room was now on their group when the teen said as casually as if commenting on the weather, "Somebody should really toddle off and fetch the Marshall so he can take this fiend into custody."

"No need for that because I'm already here stranger and I don't take kindly to people violating the No Gun Ordinance," came a gruff voice from off to the side that belonged to an equally gruff looking man.

"Forgive me, Marshall, I had no intention of violating any local laws and will happily hand over my gun or pay whatever fine you deem necessary but we really need to take of the sprawling man on the floor," Jim replied in as honest a tone as could muster.

"Fine by me Mister, now tell me just who in the Sam Hill that fella on the floor is to warrant a gun being pointed at him," the Marshall shot back impatiently.

Moving carefully so as not to spook the other lawman, Jim reached his free hand back into his jacket and then pulled out a ten-inch long leather wallet that looked to be folded in thirds. He tossed the item over to Velvet. After a couple seconds of silent communication between the two, Velvet opened the wallet and removed a couple of pieces of paper, which he handed over to the waiting Marshall.

"You will note that the first sheet in your hands is a Wanted Poster and for the man on the floor – Remy St. John. He is wanted in the State of Louisiana for the rape of three young girls. The second proves that I am officially licensed as a Bounty Hunter issued by the Louisiana Governor," the huckster stated without taking his eyes off St. John, who'd been helped back to his feet along with Betty. The rapist was surrounded by the Ranger wasn't taking chances.

"I've never heard of no Bounty Hunting License before so how'd you get it? Reckon you'll be wantin' to collect that thousand dollar bounty sometime soon," the lawman returned as he continued to look over the license.

"As to bounty, that rightfully belongs to Miss Betty as she was the one that stopped the blackguard from getting away. The license – that is a bit of a story but the short version is that the dear Governor had bad night at the card table that would've put him in a bad situation. I offered to let him keep the money in exchange for the license. He was so happy with the deal that I had that document in my hand before breakfast finished the next day," was the response.

Bad Luck Betty McGrew sputtered over the comment about receiving the bounty over something that had been just another accident in mind. She blushed when the young Englishman waved off her refusal when he pointed out that by accident or not it'd been her that actually prevented St. John from getting away. The accident prone cowgirl gave a soft thanks and then drifted into her own private world where is imagined all that could be done with her new acquired windfall. In that contemplative state she missed the dark look that Velvet shot the younger man.

Just because Betty missed it hadn't meant that Ronan or Jim had. While the undead gunslinger went off to the bar to get a bottle of whiskey, the other man caught his cousin's eye and the pair shared a silent conversation comprised of a combination of eyebrow raises and minor body movements. To the crowd, the nearly five minutes of twitching was just too weird for them so they went back to their drinks and conversations. The Marshall on the other hand chose to drag the captured rapist off to jail after asking Betty to accompany him in order to get her information for the bounty. What nobody realized is just how much passed between the two hucksters without the need for words.

Velvet had been ticked at James' flirting with Betty but ended up pissed and had to fight down the surge of jealousy when his cousin insisted she keep the unexpected bounty. He was only able to relax as the non-verbal argument the pair had proved that Jim had no designs on Betty. That was followed by an admonishment to get off his ass and ask the woman out already. At the end, his younger cousin promised not to use Betty in any plans to get even over that rather vicious prank Velvet had pulled on him. The two cardsharps had just settled down to enjoy a friendly game of cards when an explosion rocked the night.

Everyone rushed outside and saw the flames rising to the west of the rail yard. It took a couple of seconds for people to finally register what was happening. Somebody yelled, "**That's the Professor's Workshop!**" Most of the crowd ran off in the direction of the blaze to help out the local Fire Brigade that was undoubtedly on its way.

"Who's this Professor person," Jim asked one of the men that rushed past him.

"A German fella – one of those Mad Science types – named Heinrich Gestalt. He's only been around for that past couple of years; keeps mostly to his self selling the odd invention or two whenever he's strapped for money," was the reply that was called over a retreating shoulder.

Mad Science types were like rabbits these days; they multiplied like crazy. Back in the aftermath of the Great Quake that shattered the California coast and dropped San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego into the ocean the Great Maze that was left behind yielded two startling discoveries – giant sea serpents called Maze Dragons and a new mineral similar to coal but it burned hotter and produced more energy than regular coal. The unholy wailing that it emitted while it burned gave it its name – Ghost Rock. Some have since claimed that if you look into the smoke as it burns that you'll see the faces of the Damned and their tortured screams are what you hear. Whether that was hearsay or not, there was at least one physical side effect associated with the strange mineral – prolonged handling of the rocks without the use of gloves leaves permanent black stains behind.

Once the benefits of the ore were discovered it kicked off another rush that rivaled the ones for gold and silver. With the influx of miners – who cared less about stained hands in the face of potential profits – came the rise of new boomtowns like Gamora and Shan Fan. And in the wake of the miners came the scientist who saw Ghost Rock as the way to make their dreams a reality. They were right too; creative use of the mineral allowed them to make massive leaps forward in technology so that the world of tomorrow existed today. Needless to say, both the Union and Confederate Governments jumped on the band wagon with a vengeance setting up secret labs where mad scientists invented weapons of ever increasing destructive capacity.

Harry noticed that Velvet and Ronan had gone off to help. The hairs on the back of his neck rose when he was about to join then. He paused just long enough to listen to his senses as he took in his surroundings. In the opposite direction of the fire the huckster heard what sounded like metallic clinking along with a mechanical rumble not unlike a locomotive but not as loud. A quick mental review of Denver's layout from the last time he'd been there showed that the most prominent thing in the direction the noise was headed was the First Denver Bank. He had a hunch that that was not exactly a good thing. A brief glance around showed that he was alone so there no risk of exposure. Focusing on his magic, the fancy duds he'd been wearing were transformed into a loose fitting shirt with Lone Star badge and cavalry pants under the signature grey duster and hat of the Texas Rangers. To ensure that his cover identity remained intact, Harry cast Notice-Me-Not Charm on the collar of the duster so that nobody would recognize his face.

Another, closer sound drew his attention; someone was stumbling in his general direction. A few seconds later a man about six feet tall stumbled out of an ally. The stranger staggered toward him after the man saw him standing there.

"Please, you must help. They have stolen my Mole Machine," the man said in German accented English.

"What is the Mole Machine," Harry asked the person who could be none other than Professor Gestalt.

"A digging machine that I invented and hoped to sell to one of the railroads or mining companies; it is a steel plated wagon that moves on metallic belts instead of wheels and has a very large drill mounted to the front of it. Both the drill and the wagon operate by engines that run off a new fuel I developed from liquid Ghost Rock," Gestalt answered with a hint of pride.

"Great… a virtually indestructible mechanical terror, just what is it going to take to stop the damn thing," the Ranger asked drawled and it felt good to hear his natural accent again.

"The Mole Machine is hardly indestructible; at least that one is not, it's only a prototype just to prove the viability of the concept. I was forced to cut a few corners on the mock up like the fuel tank being a fifty-five gallon steel drum attacked to the back of the wagon but the hoses that take the fuel from the drum to the engine are only rubber. If you have any chance of stopped it then the hoses are the key but we need to hurry because if they get to the bank and finished before we get there then they shall escape. When I tested the engine, my calculations showed that had a maximum speed of sixty miles per hour," the professor admitted without the pride of his previous answer.

"It just keeps getting better and better. Fine, looks like I'll have to try my luck here. You should probably head over to the Marshall's office. If I can't stop your machine here then you're goin' to need to come up with something and I wanted to find you fast," the younger man replied before he started to run in the direction of the back.

"You are going to try to stop it on your own," Heinrich demanded incredulously.

"One riot, one Ranger," came the response from over the shoulder of the running man. With a skeptical look the German scientist followed behind the lawman.

Harry was cursing when he reached the bank five minutes later just behind the infernal device and was nearly perforated by a hail of bullets from at least four gang members not inside the machine. Luckily, whoever stole the Mole Machine had no clue how to really operate it so it was parked just outside of the bank while the people inside tried to figure out how to turn on the damn drill on. The Rangers cursing increased when he realized the only gun he currently had on his person was the Bulldog but if he used it then his cover would be well and truly blown. That meant using magic. While he ducked into an alley to avoid the severe case of lead poisoning, his mind was working out which kind of magic would be best for the situation. He doubted there was going to be enough time for the precision spell casting required to hit the rubber fuel lines so he opted to use the elemental magic of his veela heritage.

The young lawman strode confidently back out into the street, fireballs already formed in his hands. Just before launching his first flaming salvo he tapped into his wizard magic and used it to speed up his reflexes and then let fly. That was the last thing the would-be bank robbers expected to see. In truth, balls of fire being thrown at them at inhuman speed as a Texas Ranger calmly walked down the middle of the street scared the piss right out of them. Rangers already had enough of a reputation of being the last people you ever wanted to mess with but this was just over the top. The four thugs dropped their weapons then dropped to their knees before they found themselves being fitted for pine boxes.

It was only sheer luck that allowed them to hit the ground before the fireballs passed through the spaces their heads only recently occupied. As a result, all of them struck the Mole Machine. Thirty seconds later, the second explosion of the night happened. The machine was blown to bits and in a stunning display of irony, the massive drill bit was thrust through the front of the bank with enough force that it embedded in the vault door. While the professor gaped at the destruction that had been wrought, Harry made sure to collect all the discarded firearms – one of which he used to keep his prisoners covered.

"So, Professor, have ya been workin' on any more interesting toys," the Ranger inquired with interest.

A half hour later they were joined by the marshal and the weary townsfolk that had put out one fire and were surprised to see that the only flames to fight were on the wreckage of some machine. The front of the bank had only been destroyed by the drill bit. One look at the Ranger holding a gun on four men on the ground while he held an animated conversation with Professor Gestalt was all they needed to know what happened. Of course the marshal threw a fit over a Texas Ranger working in his city without being informed but there was nothing he could do about it. With Harry's assistance, the two lawmen wrangled the prisoners to holding cells.

The younger man managed to duck out before the older one had a chance to question him about why he was in town. He made his way over to where the Gestalt waited for him and then the pair made their way to the Professor's house; he kept all of his plans in his private office there. Over coffee they finished the discussion about Heinrich's various inventions. Afterward, the German led the Southerner out back to the barn that acted as secondary workshop. The teen gaped at all the things in various states of construction but when his eyes made it to the far end of the barn he fell in love.

"How would you like a job working for me; my father's passing left me wealthy to the point that I really don't have to work. I'll even sub-contract you out to the Rangers to develop things to help us protect the people. If there's one thing I've learned in my short life it's that no matter who claims victory, there are no winners in war. Besides, there are bigger threats out there to waste time trying to tear each other's throats out," Harry offered in a tone that left little doubt over his sincerity.

Heinrich wanted to decline at first but then his mind stuck on the fact that the other man offered him a private positions with sub work for the Rangers to help save lives, not the Confederate Military to take them. Due to the lateness of the hour they agreed to put off hammering out the terms of the offer until morning and the professor offered his new benefactor a room to sleep in.


	4. Chapter 4

**GoF: The Hexslinger's Tale**

_Disclaimer: See Chapter 1._

Ch. 4: I Don't Think We're in Kansas Anymore…

_Death Chamber, Department of Mysteries – Ministry of Magic, London; June 15, 1994_

Seven people stood in a semicircle twenty feet away from the artifact known as the Veil of Death: Albus Dumbledore – Chief Warlock of the Wizengamut and Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Algernon Croaker – Head of the Unspeakables, Cornelius Fudge – Minister of Magic, three Aurors – Dawlish, Yaxley and Robbards, and an aristocratic looking wizard that made sure he stood at the far end of the formation as far from the others as possible. His name was Lord Sirius Black – Head of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black – and the only reason he was present was to lodge yet another official protest and watch whatever fireworks happened if the fools actually succeeded in what they planned. The fact that Fudge brought Aurors made him glad that he'd taken time to notify the Head of the DMLE about what was going on so she wasn't caught flatfooted when things went bad.

While Croaker, who was in the middle of the formation directly in front of the Veil, chanted the Summoning Spell, Dumbledore prayed that it worked. The past fourteen years hadn't been kind for the venerable wizard. It was true that they started out exactly as he'd planned; everything soon turned to bitter ashes and stayed that way.

Despite their rejection of the Prophecy, the Potters had been trapped in that cottage in Godric's Hollow as the perfect bait for Voldemort. Of course he regretted that it was necessary to sacrifice James and Lily but their child was the only one that needed to live so that he could be forged into the perfect weapon against the Dark Lord. When the evil one attacked the Potter's on Halloween he just knew his plan was working perfectly. Sirius had been sequestered away to prevent him interfering for the Greater Good. Unfortunately, he hadn't planned on Lily and James throwing a spanner into the works.

The moment his monitor on the wards around the Potter's cottage showed they'd been breached Albus called in some favors and had an emergency session of the Wizengamut called. He showed up teary eyed to the meeting and told the assembly about the attack on the Potter's. Then he weaved for them the myth of the Boy-Who-Lived. After that, well he moved for the Potter Will to be sealed in the interest of security. That was when things started to go wrong. Instead of the will being delivered, Gringotts sent an Emissary who all but laughed in their faces when he reminded them that anything involving Inheritance was the domain of the Goblin Nation per treaty. Before the creature left it told them that all of the Potter's had survived so there was no reason to probate a will let alone seal one.

Somehow, Dumbledore managed to spin the situation in his favor by claiming that the reason he said Lord and Lady Potter were dead was that the family had been kidnapped. The effort to seal the will had been because he felt that the remaining Death Eaters looking for revenge over their defeated Master would contest it as they tried to steal the Potter's wealth. With nobody available to dispute his version of the facts, he parleyed his self-proclaimed victorious leadership during the war into being elected Chief Warlock of the Wizengamut and Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards.

By the time Sirius was freed from house arrest in Remus Lupin's home it was too late for Lord Black to do anything. In fact, it was a minor blessing that Sirius went into seclusion to manage his familial holdings and seeing to the few people he actually still considered family. That was the last thing that went the ancient wizard's way.

While he kept a tight hold on his positions as Headmaster and Chief Warlock, he only held onto the Supreme Mugwump spot by the skin of his teeth and an ever dwindling cache of political favors. Dumbledore learned much later that his rise to the top spot in the ICW hadn't been through any manipulations on his part but a calculated action of the international body to bring Wizarding Britain to heel at last. The British purebloods had long ignored the numerous laws passed by the ICW that went against their personal beliefs. In fact, the only pieces of ICW legislation that Britain signed were the Charter of Confederation that founded it, the International Statute of Secrecy and the International Edicts for the Standardization and Quality of Education. The other magical nations felt it was time to force the issue.

From the very first Conclave Dumbledore called to order, the other representatives started to demand official sanctions against Wizarding Britain for non-compliance to International Law and various other charges. As both the Supreme Mugwump and the British Ambassador tried to deflect the accusations, the Australian Ambassador – backed America and Canada – offered up an alternative that gave the others pause. The Honorable Ms. Cooke's suggestion was that full audit is performed on the British Ministry of Magic and Wizengamut's records. If the results of that investigation prove Wizarding Britain violated International Law then criminal charges would be filed with the World Wizarding Court and Britain would become an ICW Protectorate until such time as a new government could be elected and trained. Needless to say the motion passed much to the Supreme Mugwump and British Ambassador's protests.

The only think that kept it from being the colossal disaster it was were the century and a half to dirt and debts Dumbledore had collected and two massive natural disasters. Unfortunately, his continued stonewalling of the audit using the _Voldemort's spies destroyed some files and made a mess of the rest _excuse wasn't holding working like it used to. On top of that, with all the brouhaha that happened at Hogwarts the past few years meant that the only way for self-styled Living Legend to survive was for the Summoning Charm to bring back Harry Potter. The return of the Boy-Who-Lived (safely under his thumb) was going to be enough of a distraction at home and abroad that the ICW audit would be forgotten.

Albus focused his attention on the Veil of Death as the chanting came to an end. In just a few moments all of his troubles were going to melt away and world would be put to right – just as his vision dictated. He and the others tensed as the Veil rippled outward followed by a pulse of magic and two bodies – one male, one female – fell out of the stone archway of the artifact onto the floor. Outside of the Victorian style of their clothing, the only think that could be discerned was that the man's hair was raven black and the woman's was a deep red. Other than that it was impossible to tell who they were.

"Wands out, we don't know who these people are and they might be dangerous," Fudge told the Aurors while Sirius shook his head in disbelief.

"Well now Hoss, you'd be right about us being dangerous but you should've thought of that before you decided to play with that unprovoked attack; now it's too late, y'all had your chance. It's my deal now," the prone man commented with the pronounced drawl found in the Southern United States.

The stranger sprung up on a knee then thrust out his arms, palms forward. In each of his hands was a glowing deck of cards held between his thumbs and middle fingers. Before the Aurors had a chance to react, he pinched the digits together and sent the cards flying in a magically created whirlwind. Some of the projectiles cut while others exploded; either way, their effect had been devastating. While the others were otherwise occupied, the two newcomers rose to their feet and the man's left hand dropped to the pistol at his hip.

Sirius Black had been disappointed when he heard the man's unfamiliar voice. His disappointment turned to awe at the stranger's glib remark and display of magic. That awe segued into shock as his gaze took in the form of missing best friend and brother in all but blood.

"James," he said in disbelief at the same time that moron, Yaxley, shouted out a Killing Curse.

The man that looked like James Potter spun out of the path of the sickly green spell and drew his pistol with lightning fast reflexes. Six bangs echoed through the Chamber as his right hand fanned the hammer; all rounds hit true in a tight cluster in the foolish Auror's heart. Yaxley fell onto the floor dead before he hit.

Harry focused on the Hexslinger spell he wanted and the pistol's cylinder glowed. He gave it a quick spin and when it stopped, it was no longer glowing and had been reloaded. That particular spell took a lot out of him because of the power levels and focus involved but the biggest problem – at least in his mind – was the fact that it shouldn't have worked. Neither should that trick he pulled with the cards; Huckster and Hexslinger magic wasn't supposed to work in this world. Reaching out with his wizard magic he felt something off; just under the surface of the ambient magic was a mystical tenor that was very familiar and shouldn't be there. That wasn't a good thing.

Alarms had gone off all over the Ministry when the Killing Curse was cast and Amelia Bones burst into the Death Chamber with an Auror Rapid Response Team on right behind her. With the skill born of hours in the field, the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement did a visual sweep of the room. She'd already known about what was supposed to go on here thanks to Sirius but her brain quickly processed what she'd seen.

There were three Aurors on the ground, two with multiple cuts and burn marks that would be fine after a trip to St. Mungo's. The last one was dead, blood leaking from the six holes through the heart. In front of the Veil of Death a man and woman stood in defensive positions while the man held a muggle gun in his hand. He re-oriented himself so that the gun was pointed in Amelia's direction. There was little doubt that the stranger would fire at any perceived threat. Obviously things had gone pair shaped just like Sirius had thought they would and the situation needed to be defused before anyone else got hurt. While she tried to figure out how to do that, she was helped out by the other woman in the room.

"Harry, stand down," said the voice that most of them recognized as belonging to Lily Potter.

She'd placed a hand on his right arm and the person she'd identified as her son – despite being older than the Potter Heir should've been – calmed down. With the slightest of nods, he twirled the gun around his index finger and deftly holstered the weapon in a single fluid motion. The tensions level in the room ratcheted down a couple of notches once raven haired teen no longer seen as an active threat.

"Would somebody please tell what in the bloody name of Merlin happened here," Amelia Bones demanded while one of the Rapid Response Aurors checked on their injured comrades.

"I'll tell you what happened, Amelia; after the Ministry went through the expensive process of rescuing him from his kidnappers after all these years, this ungrateful little shite repaid our kindness with an unprovoked attack which ended in the murder of Auror Dawlish. I demand that he be locked up until a trial can be arranged. He deserves to be in Azkaban," Minister Fudge vented red faced with apoplectic rage.

The air in the Death Chamber started to get hotter after Fudge's statement and Harry's magical aura flared – mixed with his Allure – until it filled the room. Lily was unaffected but all the wizards present cringed back from overpowering display of magic. Amelia – the only other woman in the room – found that her body fought between being scared and being aroused. While she tried to mentally get herself back under control, the Potter Heir countered the Minister's assertion.

"You are correct in one point, I was kidnapped… by _**y'all**_! There I was, escorting my mother back to our hotel in Dodge City, not botherin' anyone when all of a sudden you Inbred Fuckwits thought it was a good idea to Summon me across Time and Space against my will. When she realized just what was going on, my mother grabbed a hold of me and got dragged along for the ride. Then to add further insult to injury, the second we arrive – without any attempt at explanations I might add – you ordered your people to train their weapons on us. That's two hostile acts y'all perpetrated against me and mine. Is it any wonder that I chose to defend myself against an unknown enemy? I could've used lethal force in my response by opted for incapacitation instead. The only reason one of your people is dead is because I took exception to him casting a Killing Curse at me.

"Now, just in case y'all forgot who this ungrateful brat is, I'm Lord Harry James Potter – Head of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter and the Baron of Aberavon. By your own fucked up laws just for you actions before the Killing Curse y'all are facing an automatic ten year stretch in that hellhole you call a prison. Once that Dawlish fella was stupid enough to cast that curse his life was forfeit," Harry countered hotly.

The Auror that had been checking on wounded brethren chose that moment to reveal that in the process of removing Dawlish's personal affects to give to his family he discovered the dead man bore a Dark Mark. That shocked those assembled for a couple of minutes.

"Lord Potter, what do you mean that you hadn't been kidnapped before I Summoned you here? Dumbledore has always maintained that you and your parents were abducted on Halloween night in 1981 after you survived Voldemort's attack," Croaker brought everyone's attention back on point with his terse inquiry. He was naturally upset at that he'd been misled.

"My parents fled this shithole of a magical nation to her home in America. I was born in Fayetteville, North Carolina and raised in my family's home in Baton Rouge, Louisiana – Confederate States of America. I still retain dual citizenship because my dad was still a British national when I was born. The only reason they went back to Godric's Hollow that night was to help my godfather escape the war. For some reason he never showed so they about to return home when Voldemonkey attacked. They got away but he was caught in an explosion that was the direct result of the booby traps my parents placed on the cottage."

Sirius and Lily had been remarkably quiet since Amelia and her people arrived. For the current Lord Black, it was because he'd been amazed that the person he first thought was his missing friend had turned out to be the godson he never had the chance to know. Then it due to pride at how well the younger wizard defended both himself and his companion but then his mind finally registered that said companion was actually Lily Potter. Less than a second later, the couple's eyes locked on each other. Both fought to keep their emotions under control as the two bonded that had been separated for years by circumstances beyond their control were reunited at long last.

Lily lost the internal battle first. The redhead just managed to keep her Allure leashed as she launched her body at the man who was magically and spiritually her other half. Sirius caught her in his arms and the pair shared passionate kiss. It was the brilliant flash from the Black Family magic as it acknowledged the bloodline's new Lady that drew all eyes to them at the same time the Potter magic recognized her as its bloodline's Dowager. Not that they were aware of that fact as the couple was still wrapped up in their own world; something that one of the spectators was more than happy to correct.

"Sirius, have you no shame! That is a married woman you happen to be molesting; your best friend's wife I might add," Albus Dumbledore stupidly decided to chime in for the first time since the entire debacle started. From the chiding tone he used, the Chief Warlock missed the reality of what occurred.

"Not that it's any of your business but your facts are a bit off. While it's true that she was married, my darlin' mother has been a widow for goin' on a decade; ever since a psychotic bastard that makes ol' Voldie and his Death Eaters look like a bunch a fuzzy bunnies murdered my father," Harry drawled bluntly.

"Ah, yes, I should have guessed that James was no longer with us when only yourself and Lily arrived. Please accept my apologies for speaking out of turn, Sirius; especially as it came on the heels of today's other misunderstandings. Harry, my boy, as joyous as the return of you and your mother is I understand that you must have as many questions as I… we… do and this is not the proper place to ask them. My office would be the best place for those discussions," Dumbledore commented in an effort to gloss over the facts and take charge of the situation.

Harry had just reigned in his magic when Dumbledore's terminal case of foot-in-mouth disease got the better of the venerable wizard. This time it was Lily that lost control – not of her magic but of her infamous temper. Her former Headmaster's blatant attempt to manipulate the situation had the redhead unleashing her ire at the old fool in her second native tongue.

"_**Misunderstaning!? A misunderstanding by its definition implies something unintentional or accidental. Everything that you have done to House Potter – from telling James and I about that fucked up prophecy that we freely rejected and everything that came from that up to your actions today – have been deliberate and calculated attack against our family to further your own ends. If you think that I'll let you try to manipulate your way out of being punished for your criminal actions then you're senile on top of being a lying, thieving, scheming, goat fucking bastard.**__"_

"Do you think Lily realizes that she's speaking French," Sirius asked his godson in an amused tone. Harry just shook head with a smile.

It was pretty clear to all those in the Death Chamber that the former Lady Potter had no intention of stopping her rant anytime soon so Harry let out a shrill whistle that brought her up short. The still pissed veela witch stomped over to where her son and mate all but laughing at her. Thankfully, the moment Lily was close enough to Sirius her anger dissipated at being in close proximity to her other half. Using the effect to his advantage, Harry decided it was beyond time to take charge before anybody else said something that shattered the tenuous peace that currently held sway.

"In my official capacity as Lord Potter, I want to press formal charges of Conspiracy to Kidnap and Kidnapping – against everyone involved in today's attack against my House," he intoned gravely to Amelia as he rightly guessed from what Fudge said earlier that she held a position of authority in the government.

"I'd like to point out that I had nothing to do with this idiocy. In fact, I protested against it… twice. The only reason I came today was because I wanted to be there for my godson if they actually managed to Summon him here. If charges are going to be filed then you might as well double them because Harry is my heir and has been since the day James asked me to be his godfather when the Healer confirmed that he was a boy. That makes him Heir to the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black. I only request that no charges get filed against Croaker because he was only acting in good faith based on the information that he'd be given," Sirius added helpfully and smirked as both Albus and Fudge paled.

Amelia chose to head off what promised to be a political nightmare by ordering the leader of the Rapid Response Team that came with her to seal the offices of the Minister and Chief Warlock. Then she formally charged Dumbledore and Fudge and forbid them to talk to anyone about the case until after the emergency Wizengamut session that would be called tomorrow. The Head of the DMLE also made a sure that both wizards were suspended until after the investigation and trial. Neither was happy with the situation but with the ICW Audit moving forward there was no way either was going to be able to pull any strings.

In a last ditch effort to salvage at least a minor victory, Albus reached into his garish robes and removed a parchment envelope. He offered it to Harry then, with as much dignity as could be mustered, said, "While nobody could have anticipated you already claiming the Potter Lordship, there was a law that was passed yesterday that states that Heirs of Noble families or higher must attend Hogwarts before their families seek alternative arrangements. As Lord Black just pointed out, you are the Black Heir and now fall subject to the law. I look forward to seeing you on September 1st and hope that in time we might be able to put all of this unpleasantness behind us."

"Fine but don't think y'all will be walkin' out of here just yet. At least not until you, Fudge, Croaker and the two surviving Aurors responsible for this mess take a Magical Oath that I give y'all," the emerald eyed youth countered as he snatched up the envelope then put it in the inner left breast pocket of his jacket.

"Now see here, Lord or not you have no right to make such a demand…," Fudge started to protest but was interrupted by the report of a gun and his left earlobe being grazed by a bullet. Harry had moved with such speed that nobody had seen him draw his pistol until he fired.

"Y'all got only two choices: take the oath and your chances with the trial or I just kill y'all now," the Ranger calmly affirmed while the gun was kept level with Fudge's head.

Dumbledore, in yet another display of stupidity, believed that while the others were distracted by Harry's attack on the Minister was the perfect time to attempt to regain total control. It was pure hubris that caused him to believe that Potter and his muggle weapon were the only real threat he faced. With a flick of his right wrist, his wand slid into his waiting hand but just as quickly his world exploded in unending burning pain when he started to raise it. His aged body was already going into shock as he gazed at the chunk of charred flesh that used to be his right hand. Through the pain, Ablus registered that his wand… the Elder Wand… the legendary Death Stick… was nothing more than a pile of ashes.

Not everyone had been focused on Harry and Fudge. Lily had been keeping an eye on the real threat – Albus Dumbledore. The second she saw his wand fall into his wrinkled hand, veela transformed into her avian-hybrid form and threw a fireball that hit her target dead on. The redhead adopted a satisfied smirk as the bastard's hand and wand were engulfed in flames.

As his mother reverted back to her true form, the teen Lord guided Fudge, Croaker, Dawlish, Robbards and still shocked Albus through the Oath he wanted them to take after his godfather gave him the correct date. It was pretty straight forward as far as such things go and left none of the wiggle room that the purebloods were used to. They'd each sworn on their lives and magic not to reveal what happened in the Death Chamber on June 15, 1994. Furthermore, they also swore not to reveal anything they learned about any members of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter until such time as Lord Harry James Potter gave them permission. Once that was done, all the wounded were transported by emergency portkey to St. Mungo's for treatment and Fudge was escorted out of the building.

"I thought you were a muggleborn," Sirius commented to his bonded but from his tone that he cared less about her blood status.

"No, my mamon is veela and Matriarch of the Veela Nation in Exile. My papa, for lack of a better term, could be classified as a squib. When I was sent back to see if it was time for our people to return, I was fostered by the Evans family. It was after a bout of accidental magic that the Ministry classified me as a muggleborn and I never bothered to correct them," the new Lady Black admitted sheepishly.

Her answer only generated more questioned for her mate and Amelia but both knew that it wasn't the time to delve into those mysteries. Mother and son promised to clarify things eventually but there was still much to do and the pair was tired. The truth of the matter was that Harry was dangerously close to being magically exhausted from all the power he'd used. A fact that neither of them wanted to advertise.

Amelia led them up to the main entrance after two stops; the Magical Testing Authority to arrange for Harry to take the ICW tests to determine his educational standing, and the Department of Magical Transportation where the teen tested out and received his Apparation License. The Head of the DMLE said her goodbyes and expressed a desire to meet with the Potter's at a later date to go over some lingering questions and review the case against Dumbledore and Fudge.

It had taken most of his remaining willpower but Harry managed to make it out of the Ministry without stumbling or collapsing. If he was totally honest with himself then he had to admit that it was his own fault that he'd had two very long days with only a few hours of sleep in between. The problem he was face with now was that on top of the physical exhaustion he had to deal with the aftereffects of using too much magic. Not that that was entirely his fault because part of that came from being forced through the Hunting Grounds to this world. What most people failed to realize – mostly due to the fact that they were too lazy to do proper research – was that in Summoning a being into their reality the caster's magic was only used to make a connection to the being; the actual spell was powered by the other being's magic.

Harry's magic used up twice what should've been required as the result of his mother hitching a ride with him. Then there were the two spells he actually cast; according to everything he'd ever been taught Huckster and Hexslinger magic wasn't supposed to work in this world because Manatous weren't as active here. That meant that something had to have happened just before Voldemort's attack on Godric's Hollow (his mom had needed to use a full ritual to open a Portal through the Hunting Ground to make their escape before then) to cause such a change. As to the spells themselves; the trick with the cards was something pretty minor and he could've accomplished the same thing powering it with his wizard magic but it was the second one that was more costly.

While the two styles of magic originated from the same source, Hexslinging was less about finesse and more about brute force. The spells were all focused around guns after all, which meant they required more power and concentration the Huckster spells. It was possible for a magic user to use both styles but most only had an affinity for one or the other. That had been the case with James Potter; he'd still been able to use his wizard magic but only did so in the most dire of circumstances because the wand was too noticeable.

At his wife's suggestion he read through _Hoyle's Book of Games_ and understood the theory but for some reason failed miserably at putting it into practice. It had been while learning to shoot that he in a moment of frustration at missing the target that he discovered that a pistol could be used just like a wand. It was a couple of years after he became a Ranger that he'd had a chance encounter with Doc Holiday. Doc introduced James to the art of Hexslinging and took to it like a duck to water.

The Reload Spell that Harry used was a variation created by his father. With the standard spell, the only thing that happened was it levitated bullets from a gun belt or saddle bag into the Hexslinger's hand. The Potter Special actually conjured them into the chambers of the gun's cylinder. That effect – along with channeling his magic to increase his reflexes – was enough to push the raven haired teen over the border of exhaustion. Harry had a sinking feeling in his stomach that the current day was going to be even longer before he was allowed to rest.

The young Lord's assumption proved correct. After leaving the Ministry of Magic, Lily dragged her men folk straight to Offices of the Daily Prophet in Diagon Alley. It was her intention to be the only source for the official story over the Potter's return. Two hours and a working lunch later the trio made their way over to Gringotts in order to meet with the Potter and Black Account Managers. They had all been shocked to learn that the Potter Fortune had grown back to the level it had been at when the Dowager Lady Potter had removed two-thirds of it before she and James made their escape. The shock only grew after Stonefist – the Senior Potter Account Manager – produced no less than twenty-five Betrothal Contract offers that had been submitted during family's self-imposed exile. Naturally, another ten were added by Bluntfang – the Senior Black Account Manager – after Harry accepted the Black Heir's ring.

It was well after 9 pm when the two wizards and witch made it back to the Black Family home at 12 Grimmauld Place. They were all too tired to do more than collapse in bed; even Sirius, whose patience was already stretched to the breaking point over his need to get answers to all of the questions that had bounced around his head since Lily and Harry's arrival. It was agreed to put things off to the morning in favor of getting a good night's sleep.

**AN: If this chapter had its way then it would've been longer but it would've been way too information intensive so I beat it into submission and was able to edit it down to what it is now. That being said, I'm not exactly happy with how it ended but it is what it is.**

**Next chapter – enter the Tonks' and the Southern French Veela. I also hope to finish adding/explaining the Deadlands elements for a while. As this is a Harry/Multi piece I'll let you suggest members but Tonks and Fleur are in and I want to limit the number of girls to four so for the remaining two I want to use either girls not normally paired with Harry with OC's as a last resort.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Gof: The Hexslinger's Tale**

_Disclaimer: See Chapter 1_

Ch. 5: Kissin' Cousins

_Black Family Home – 12 Grimmauld Place, London, England; June 16, 1994_

Nymphadora "Call Me By My First Name I'll Hex Your Bits Off" Tonks awoke still full of the nervous energy that all of the other residents of the Black Family Seat had had for over the past month; ever since the reigning Lord Black – her cousin Sirius – learned that Dumbledore planned on Summoning Harry Potter from wherever he was. Young Harry was Sirius' godson and her fourth cousin as James Potter's mother had been the former Dorea Black. Yesterday was the day everything was supposed to happen and since Sirius hadn't come back home last night it was pretty much a given that both the Summoning had been successful and things had gone as pair shaped as he'd feared. She rolled out of bed and shuffled over to her dresser to get some fresh clothes for the day. That she tripped moving the short distance wasn't all that surprising as it was a regular occurrence.

The twenty-year-old witch, who'd just completed her second year at the Auror Academy, picked out a bra and panty set she'd gotten from Victoria's Secret during her last shopping trip to muggle London then placed them back on the bed. Next, she went into her walk-in closet and picked out an outfit that suited her personal sense of style. Tonks – as she liked to be called – had been passed over for the Summer Internship with the Auror Department so she planned on spending her vacation just being herself instead of the Proper Lady her mother wanted her to be or the mindless drone her Instructors browbeat her into during classes. She stripped out of the half-tank and boy shorts that made up her sleepwear and wrapped the towel that hung on the back of her bedroom door around her naked body. With her clothes in hand, Tonks stopped by the linen closet in the hallway for a fresh towel for her hair then padded over to the bathroom for a shower. Unlike the two Master bedrooms, the smaller rooms weren't equipped with their own en suites so their occupants had to share the hallway bathroom on Family floor.

Much to her surprise, the bathroom had already been occupied when she opened the door and waltzed inside. A man with raven hair was drying his toned and very naked body when he was interrupted by the unexpected visitor. To heap even more embarrassment upon her, both the clothes in her hand and towel around her body fell to the floor as Tonks gaped at what her mind freely admitted was a prime piece of Beefcake. For several minutes both young adults stood there ogling the goodies that the other offered. Unfortunately, Harry's magic and Allure chose to unconsciously respond to beautiful member of the opposite sex that seemed to call out to him. The unsuspecting witch started to move in the direction of the stranger in a lust filled haze. It was a throat clearing from the hallway that snapped the two of them back to reality.

"Well, this is certainly embarrassing," Andromeda Tonks commented dryly as the awkward situation she stumbled upon.

She'd seen her daughter heading off to take a shower but then stop without closing the door. Being curious, the older witch went to investigate. What she found was a naked young man and an equally naked Dora staring at each other in shock. Under any other circumstances Andromeda would've laughed at the situation her daughter found herself in but things changed pretty quick. Judging from the fact that the stranger was a carbon copy of her cousin, James, but with Lily's eyes, it was obvious that he was their son.

That was only the start of the problems that she became aware of because by all accounts Harry Potter should've been just turning fourteen. The major problem was the fact that it appeared that he was very much his mother's son. Andi had been the only one besides James that knew Lily was Veela and the second she'd felt Harry's Allure she'd slammed her Occlumency Shields down hard. As a Healer, she was required to learn Occlumency – the art of shielding one's mind – in order to deal with the emotional trauma her profession often exposed her to. Thinking quickly, she made her presence known and prayed that that was going to be enough.

Harry was the first one to react, he gave the older woman a polite nod and a playful wink to the younger before he apparated back to his bedroom. Andi, seeing that the potential crisis had been averted decided to let her original amusement bleed through as she wished her daughter a good morning and closed the door to give the naked witch some much needed privacy. The Tonks Matriarch continued on down to the small Breakfast Room as, based on the smells that wafted up from the kitchen, food, coffee and tea were about to be served. As she continued down the stairs she couldn't help but think about the private meeting that she and her husband – Ted – had with Lord Black.

Sirius was angry over the attempt to Summon his godson from wherever the boy was; but more than that, he was paranoid about what former Death Eaters like Lucius Malfoy or one of their less savory relations might try against the young wizard. One possibility was that they would contest Harry being named the Black Heir. But with his paternal grandmother coming from the main branch of the Black family and two other Black daughters marrying Potter Lords/Heirs the Family Magic and the Law were satisfied. That didn't mean that they weren't going to try – just that they had no leg to stand on. There were a few ways to cut that avenue of attack, doomed as it was, off at the knee caps. Too bad the only one Sirius wanted pursue was solidifying the teen's claim through a Betrothal Contract with an eligible daughter of House Black; Nymphadora being the only witch currently a member of the family that met that criteria.

If she were honest with herself, such a contract would be just as helpful against her daughter's problems. The only issue that had given her or her husband pause was the supposed six year age difference between the two intended parties. Sirius always stuck to the proposition that the age difference wasn't going to matter in a few years anyway. That certainly seemed to be the case now. From what she'd seen with her own eyes, Harry couldn't have been less than seventeen. Being the professional that she was only natural for Andromeda to give the wizard a visual inspection to make sure he hadn't been injured in any way from his recent ordeal (that was her story and she was sticking with it no matter what). What her… examination… showed as a toned body that was obviously kept in shape with a rather impressive… staff; one that any woman – witch or not – would sell their souls for their husbands/boyfriends to possess.

Andi received a shock of her own when she entered the Breakfast Room and found Lily Potter seated next to Sirius at the table and acting like a couple of love sick teenagers. Once again the former Pureblood Princess found herself having to clear her throat. Unlike the last time, there was no embarrassment or anybody apparating out just unrepentant smirks. At the arch of her inquiring eyebrow Lily explained about the accidental bonding at the end of their seventh year. The Healer nodded along in understanding then made a mental note to talk to both of them in private because there was sure to be some psychological issues as the result of their enforced separation and maybe even a little guilt at re-consummating their bond so quickly.

As she settled into her chair, Andi told the pair what she'd seen in the bathroom. They all shared a laugh and it wasn't long before her husband, Ted, joined them. Fifteen minutes later, Harry joined them followed by her daughter a half hour later. While Dora was still red faced over the incident, the younger wizard acted as if things like that happened all the time and poured himself some tea from a service that one of the house-elves had placed on the table. It wasn't long before everything went back to normal; at least until after Sirius made introductions.

"I guess after what happened earlier we're Kissin' Cousins now," Harry commented to Dora; his Southern Drawl taking on a husky undertone.

"Only if that's what you want it to mean, baby," Dora replied breathily while she batted her eyes because there was no way she was going to back down from such a blatant challenge.

The _adults_ shared a significant look as they laughed but the re-emergence of Harry's Allure during the by-play made Lily frown. It was clear that something about it bothered her and she was determined to get to the bottom of it; preferably before somebody got hurt.

"Harry, stop using your Allure on you cousin," she demanded crossly. Her son was about to protest when he realized that he'd been unconsciously using it. His shocked expression gave way to one of understanding for the redhead.

Lily continued in a softer tone, "It's obvious that you didn't know what you were doing but this isn't the first time you've had issues with it, is it? Taking that female vampire out of the equation, and using Velvet's need to deflect his mother's ire over his exploits by regaling her was reports of your own, I know that you've slept with at least four of the Wichita Witches. Yesterday, I also overhead a couple of those slags joking about the boss – Mina Devlin – looking very relaxed after seducing you. There's more to it than that isn't there?"

"I'm gonna kill that loose lipped ass the next time I see him. Did he happen to tell Aunt Sabine that I never sought out those encounters? Each time, the woman involved made the first move but once they did I just couldn't find the strength to resist," the emerald eyed teen admitted.

"That's what I thought. I'm so sorry, my Angel, because male veela's Allure is weaker than the female's we never thought it was possible for any of our sons to suffer the negative effects of it," Lily countered sadly.

"What do you mean by negative effects," Andromeda asked in full Healer mode. The others were interested as well but only Sirius wasn't shocked to learn the Black Heir was a male veela.

"Veela as a race are beings of Fire, Air, Passion and Sexuality; we are also a race that breeds true, the children of a veela are veela – half-veela and quarter-veela are nothing but myth we propagate only when we have to. The Allure is our magic's way of seeking out the ideal mate; that it enthralls potential sexual partners has often been seen as an added bonus. Unfortunately, it's a double edged sword. Just as the Allure enthralls possible lovers to the veela, it also enthralls the veela to anyone within range that has a powerful magical aura. Over the centuries this has caused several of my Sisters to become nothing more than living sex toys for unscrupulous wizards and witches who managed to force that enthrallment into a true bond.

"Because of our nature, whenever a veela meets a mate whose magic is compatible to hers a Soul Bond is inevitably formed. Something that while rare among witches and wizards can still happen, which is why witches are given The Talk at the end of their second year of school. In our world, the Veela Nation separates our children from the outside world until they learn to control their Allure. Like I said earlier, we never thought to tell our sons about the downside because, until now, it wasn't seen as a potential issue because the only people with a strong magical aura are Black Witches and Wizards – vile wretches that make bargains with so-called Infernal Powers for their magic. As our people tend to stay in one area, anyone found reeking of Black Magic are dealt with swiftly.

"To my knowledge, only my son and his cousin – Velvet Van Helter – are the only veela, male or female, that travel on a regular basis and thereby come into contact with anyone that could even remotely cause their enthrallment. There is another reason for one of my people to subconsciously lose control of their Allure and that's when they are near a potential mate. From what you told us earlier, Andi, it appears as if your daughter's magic is very compatible to my son's since he's lost control of his allure twice. Which makes the third time since we've been here that it happened but his reaction to Amelia Bones was not as strong as what we just felt," the newly minted Lady Black explained to her friend.

The room fell into a strained silence as everyone ate their breakfast and processed what had been revealed so far. By mutual unspoken agreement, that top was shelved for a later date so that just left Sirius – and the Tonks' – getting the answers he'd wanted since yesterday morning. Lily suggested that they move the discussion into the parlor so everyone could get comfortable. After they arranged themselves in the plush furniture, there was a pause while the Potter's tried to decide where to start. In the end, Harry jumped in with an overview as opposed to what happened with his family. That was better handled by his mother.

"I guess the best place to start is with a little theory/history. My mom told me that while she was living here the muggle scientists and fiction writers had a theory about existence of Alternate Realities. That theory is correct… up to a point. Alternate Realities do exist but manner in which they're created is different. According to those scientists and novelists, every decision we make creates one or more possible alternate realities. The truth is that _Divergences_ are only created at specific _Crisis Points_ within a timeline after people in charge at the time make a decision from the various choices they have.

"Let's use an example from your modern history; Adolf Hitler. Winston Churchill wanted to be proactive and deal with the bastard before he became a real threat – our Crisis Point. Now Winston has a hard choice make: Does he follow the official position of the British Government and let sleeping dogs lie? Does he take matters into his own hands and send someone from the military he knows is loyal to him to assassinate Hitler? Does he kill Adolf himself? Does he secretly make a deal with a foreign government to deal with the situation?

"According to one of the history books my mom showed me, Churchill pretty much chose the first option but remained vocal about the need to deal with Hitler and the Nazis. With his decision made, Divergences are created based on each of the other options. Now here is where things get complicated; each of those new realities continue on in the same linear fashion alongside this one but each of them has their own Crisis Points which lead to new Divergences, and so on and so on. What that leaves us with is an intricately delicate web of alternate realities.

"Things become more confusing when we add to that the existence of another dimension that overlays that web and binds it together. You can call it the Spirit World, the Astral Plane or whatever else you want; where we're from, the American Indian tribes call it the Hunting Grounds and that's been adopted as the universal term for it by everyone else. Whatever you call it, it's populated by Nature Spirits, malevolent spirits called Manatous, various beings of varied power and the Source of Magic. Some of those beings are indifferent, a few might be benevolent but the majority is evil to one degree or another. Regardless, most were more than likely worshipped as gods and goddess or angels, devils and demons.

"Another aspect of the Hunting Grounds is that time moves differently there. That being said, it is possible that with the proper spell a magic user could open a Portal into the Hunting Grounds and then travel through them to somewhere else in there reality during the same time frame – provided they don't get lost. Say a cowpoke woke up in Deadwood on the Fourth of July and wanted to spend the holiday in Paris, France. If he knew the spell then he could open a Portal and come out on the other is in Paris on the Fourth of July. It is possible to visit one of the alternate realities but it requires more power and you'd have to know that they exist. The problem with doing that is that the nature of the Hunting Grounds effects the spell and caused Temporal Drift when moving between realities so you never know exactly when you'll end up," the raven haired wizard offered. The room faded into a contemplative silence as the others wrapped their minds around those concepts.

After ten minutes, Tonks piped up, "Well that was an interesting lesson but from the number of times the phrase 'Your World' was used I'll go out on a limb as say you two are from one of the alternate realities. We should probably get into the how's and why's of that."

Lily smiled at that and picked up the story. "What you know as the Veela Nation was three main island colonies off the Amalfi coast in Italy, and the Southern and Northern coasts of France along with a handful of scattered villages in the more isolated parts of Eastern Europe and Russia. It was originally founded by Queen Lorelei, the first recorded veela. She reigned for around 900 years before dying of the Black Death. Before she passed the Queen was able to arranged for rule over the Nation to pass to three Matriarchs of the Colonies as a Triumvirate; each of them being one of her many times great-granddaughters. Thus the three Royal Families were founded; La Croix of the Northern Colony, Martel of the Southern Colony and Capello of Italy.

"Jumping ahead several centuries to the late 1890's – early 1900's. Another little known fact is that the Dark Lord Grindelwald made to bids for power; his first being a failure. The reason it failed despite his agents successful assassination of the Arch Duke Ferdinand was because he lacked the allies to pull it off. It's a well-known fact Purebloods are lazy but Pureblood Elitists are even more so. Grindelwald was a powerful but unknown quantity which means that the Darker Noble Houses were more prone to backing a known Dark Lord of lesser power. In order to gain the support both financially and in personnel that he needed, the budding megalomaniac had to find a way to secure the Dark Families.

"To this end, he courted the favor of the Veela Nation. He believed he could use their Allure to enthrall the Heads of those families he was courting into doing his bidding. After many attempts to meet with the Matriarchs, they agreed to send a three person delegation to meet Grindelwald on what was supposed to be Neutral Ground but was actually an Inn owned by the son-in-law of the Italian Emissary. During the initial talks, he promised the Emissaries everything he thought the Veela Nation wanted to hear but they weren't fooled. When the second round of negotiations began after lunch, a waitress served up a round of tea. The cup given to the future Dark Lord had been laced with veritaserum; a fact he discovered after taking a drink and answering a question about his real intentions for the Nation with the absolute truth.

"The German wizard was extremely brassed off over the underhanded move by the veela. Thankfully, the Emissaries apparated out before he could retaliate. Without the Veela Nation as his _Slave Mistresses_, he failed to gain the support for his conquest of Europe. In retaliation, Grindelwald burned down the Inn where the meeting had been held and then wiped out the Italian Colony leaving no survivors. It was only because Elizabeth Capello had been investigating a rumor on the Russian/Mongolian border that the Italian Royal line wasn't rendered extinct at that time.

"When the bastard came into power during just before World War 2, the Matriarchs of France knew that the Veela Nation was facing its extinction. Constance Martel nearly bankrupted her colony by hiring the Niebelung Dwarves to put up fatal wards around the island then place it under a Dwarven Fidelius Charm. The Northern Matriarch, Isobel Le Croix – my mother, chose to seek out the advice of the Oracle at the ruins of Delphi. The ancient witch told her that the only way for her colony and the Veela Nation to survive was to escape to another world where they would prosper. She even provided the Ritual required for the journey. It took about a week, and the support of the Colony's Seers, but eventually everyone agreed to the exodus.

"On Halloween in 1932, my Maman and her people collectively cast the ritual that opened a Portal to the Hunting Ground. After several days and no small amount of danger, the refugees came out of another Portal in Acadia, Canada in early spring of 1797. It took three years for the veela to learn to survive in their new world as well as get used to the difference in its innate magic. Once they were as acclimated as they were going to get at that point, Maman led her people through Canada and down to Louisiana where they established themselves in Baton Rouge. A decade after they settled, the Veela Nation in Exile was thriving; especially in the area of offspring. The gentler magic of their new home world blessed the veela with the ability to produce sons – as evidenced by my own Harry.

"I was born in Baton Rouge. Around my fifth birthday, one of our Seers started to have visions that led her to believe that it was time to send someone back to our former home to see if things had changed enough for us to return. Mamon believed that it was to see of our Sisters were ready to join us in this world. After a great debate to see who would be sent, the Seer that had the original vision told the assembly that she'd had another about who would be sent, a child – me. It took a while before my Papa agreed to the plan.

"Ironically, it was the Goblin Nation that facilitated my return to this reality with a proper cover identity and appropriate documentation to get me into Foster Care. It turns out that the goblins are a race that originated in the Hunting Grounds and maintained permanent Portals to connect to their Gringotts branches in the different realities.

"I was placed with the Evans family and used their name for school. The Ministry had detected some of my Accidental Magic and mistakenly listed me as a muggleborn. Something that actually worked in my favor; my school years are pretty much well documented but one important event occurred that nobody else knew about – the accidental bonding between myself and Sirius and James and Marlene McKimmon. The boys didn't even figure it out until after Marlene was dead and James and I were married.

"At the end of my first trimester, I convinced James that it was time to leave this world for mine. Sirius was supposed to join us but ended up sacrificing his own escape to keep Dumbledore and the piece of shite, Lupin, busy. Harry was born in my world and had been seven when James and I returned here to retrieve Sirius. Remember how traveling through realities in the Hunting Grounds caused Temporal Drift, well if you know the reality you're going to and the approximate time then you will end up where you want to be – give or take a week. Needless to say that level of accuracy comes with one hell of a power drain.

"Yet again, Padfoot over there was kept from joining us. We waited for as long as we could but eventually I needed to get us back home. Voldemort attacked as I was opening the Portal but we managed to get through it before the booby traps we placed on the cottage caused it to explode. Things temporarily took a turn for the worse when one of the evil wanker's Killing Curses hit me in the back (the three Tonks' and Sirius gasped).

"Where I'm from there are now a breed of undead called Harrowed. They are created when a Manatou captures the departing soul and forces it back into its recent corpse along with it. The Manatou is what actually reanimates the body and grants it various powers but it's still just a walking corpse. Adding to the tragedy of their existence, the original soul and the Manatou constantly fight for control over their shared body.

"Technically, I'm Harrowed but unique – the first and only one of my kind; a Nature Spirit happened to be close to the Portal on the Hunting Grounds side when we came through and I was hit with the Killing Curse. For some unknown reason, it chose to merge with my fleeing soul and force it back into the body. As you all know, the Killing Curse is like the Dementor's Kiss – it forces the soul out of the body but the physical form remains alive without outside support for a few hours. That fact, along with process of creating a Harrowed being unknown to the Nature Spirit lent itself to unexpected benefits.

"Because my body hadn't actually died when my soul and the Nature Spirit were forced back into it I'm not one of the undead. Too bad the process killed the Spirit's identity but it left my now enhanced soul in total control. Instead of the normal powers that Harrowed develop over time, my new state augmented the elemental magic of my veela heritage and granted me command of Spirit based nature magic like native Shamans and the Druids of old."

The conversation moved on to cover what happened to James and how their lives up to the point of the Summoning. There was a break for lunch and then several hours of answers to the myriad of questions from the members of House Black. The new Lady Black and her son made it point to be up front about the fact that they were going back to their own world after the coming school year was over but assured the others that they had places for them if they agreed to go. Sirius' affirmation to leaving had been a given but the three members of the Tonks family wanted to take some time to think about it before the made a choice one way or the other.

Over dinner, mother and son were brought up to speed about what had been going on in both the wizarding and muggle worlds since the fall of Voldemort. Neither had been pleased to learn that it was pretty much business as usual in Wizarding Britain but the silver lining was the ICW Audit had the potential to bring the Pureblood Bigots perfect little world crashing down. They were even less impressed with what they head about what had been happening at Hogwarts for the past few years. But the most disturbing things to them had been the mysterious stone that had been hidden in the school and the two massive earthquakes that destroyed several diamond mines in South Africa and literally ripped the continent of Australia in half that left behind a treacherous series of islands called The Labyrinth. Those were just too close to Ghost Rock and The Maze to be coincidental. Although it went a long way to explaining the changes both had felt in the ambient magic.

_12 Grimmauld Place, London; July 14, 1994_

In the month since the arrival of Lily and Harry Potter things had fallen into a regular routine. Mornings were spent making sure the Potter Lord/Black Heir was up to snuff in his course work for his upcoming ICW OWLS at the Ministry; not that anyone outside Madam Marshbanks knew that. Outside of Herbology, Potions, Care of Magical Creature and Muggle Studies (the three former he'd at least been taught the theory of back home, and the later which covered things not in the approved Ministry text) Harry was at least at NEWT level in the remaining Core Subjects offered at Hogwarts along with Ancient Runes and Arithmancy. Afternoon was the time that Ted, Dora (Tonks to her friends and everyone outside of the family) and Sirius were taught how to shoot and the reviewing _Hoyle's Book of Games_ with them and Andi. Evenings saw the members of the family gathered in the Library for stories about the other reality and clarifications of the finer points. Andromeda and Dora were both thrilled that the fairer sex had true equality there, even if it came about due to the ongoing Civil War. The end of their first week had seen Amelia Bones arrive to get statements from Lily, Harry and Sirius along with copies of their memories.

Much like James before them, the three would-be gunslingers were naturals. But on the magical front; Ted and Andi were well on their way to being Hucksters while their daughter and Padfoot proved more adept at Hexslinging. The three Tonks' were very close to making their decision about leaving this world – Dora more so than her parents.

Over the past few weeks, Harry and Dora had spent almost all of their waking hours together. Even when they weren't going through the daily routine the pair was never far from each other. After the first week, the family as a whole went out into London to see the site and shop but also to get the two dimensional travelers use to how things had changed in the non-magical world. For the most part, Harry found it too loud and busy for his tastes but every weekend he allowed his slightly older cousin to take him out. One night it was to the movies, the next it was to sample the nightlife of London's Under 21 clubs; once it had been to Rave but neither one enjoyed that experience.

They talked about anything and everything and it became obvious that the younger couple were getting to the point where the Ranger's veela heritage was going to take over and they ended up in bed. Lily was in agreement with her mate about setting up a Betrothal Contract between the pair but she was about to get a major push to get it done over breakfast.

Harry was the last person to enter the cozy Breakfast Room. In each of his hands he carried a cloth wrapped package. Once he reached the table, he handed the one in his right hand to Ted; who made quick work of unwrapping it to reveal its contents.

"My three erstwhile students in the fine art of shootin' have reached a point where they are proficient enough that they no longer need me to give them pointers; they just need to practice their skills. Sirius – the self-proclaimed Dogfather Extraordinaire – has opted to just keep using one of the spare guns I've collected over the limited course of my travels. He claims to want to wait until we _move_ then he'll buy a weapon that's more _'His Style'_. Meanwhile, he's going to be carrying one of Mom's two-shot Derringer hold outs in a spring loaded wrist holster.

"Ted, because your work takes you back and forth between the wizarding and muggle worlds, I wanted you to have the 1868 model Webbley Bulldog that I used as part of my cover. The shoulder rig is Disillusioned so nobody will know you're carrying it with you until y'all pull it out," the emerald eyed young adult said and then paused.

He unwrapped the second package and it what it held was very familiar to Lily, and to a lesser extent – Sirius. Reverently, Harry placed the gun belt now on display for everyone to see on the table. With a speed meant to inspire shock and awe, he drew the pistol then gave it a twirl. There were a few minutes of silence as the young Hexslinging Huckster just looked at the weapon without actually seeing it; his mind was focused firmly in the past. Softly at first, the teen started to talk with an ethereal quality.

"This pistol is a .44 caliber single-action Colt Dragoon; the cylinder contains chambers for six rounds. It was first given to my dad by my mom's father, my Grandpa Nate. This is the piece he learned to shoot with, use as a wand for his wizard magic and then later how to Hexsling. It is the gun that rode on his hip throughout his time as a Texas Ranger.

"When that undead son-of-a-bitch, Stone, killed him the Harrowed piece of shit made a fatal mistake. He took my father's Lone Star Badge – the fucker's usual trophy – but left this gun behind. Gramps removed it from Dad's personal affects then hid it away; I wouldn't see it again until I was eleven.

"My Great-Uncle Aaron and his family had died in when their home accidentally burned to the ground. Magic transportation was out because it would've odd to arrive in North Carolina from Louisiana the day after the telegram about their passing had been sent. Instead, Grandpa Nate took leave from the Rangers then arranged for the family to take a Dixie Rails train back east. There was nothing special about that particular train; it was just transporting passenger and mail.

"Yet somebody told the Union High Command that it was being used to move a secret weapon the Confederacy hoped would win them the War. So they dispatched a Company of Cavalry to ambush the train. The problem was the soldiers in that Company had been fightin' for too long and weren't right in their heads. They killed anyone that crossed their path; men, women, children, civilians or Confederate Soldiers – if they were Southern then these sick fuckers believed they deserved to die.

"The train was passing through a heavily wooded stretch of Alabama when they sprung their ambush. They'd blocked the tracks with some fallen trees; of the twenty soldiers in the Company, five stayed outside to act as lookouts and take care of anyone that tried to escape. Six of the Blue Bellies entered the front of the train and worked their way back. The remaining nine started in the luggage cars then moved forward. Once the train started to slow down, Grandpa Nate grabbed his saddle bags from under his seat then pulled out this gun and shoved it into my hand.

"He told me that he needed to head up front and take care of any problems he found. I was ordered to shoot anyone that came in through the back that so much as looked funny. While he made his way to the front of the train, all I was able to do was stare at the gun that I held. Gunfire from the direction Gramps had gone brought me out of my reverie and I turned to face the back of our passenger car. There was a girl about two years younger than me in one of the seats near the door. A few seconds later she was screamed when the rear door burst inward and a couple of the Blue Bellies rushed in.

"The fuckers wanted to inspire as much fear as possible so they put a ton of lead in the air. Their aim was wild so only a few people were hit but nothing major but the attack had the desired effect. While one of them reloaded their gun, the other decided he was goin' ta have some fun with the girl. I launched myself out of my seat and managed to club the piece of shit in the back of the head with enough strength to daze him pretty good. His friend shoved me back; as I fell to the ground I shot him once in the chest. While I lay there winded, my magic took over and I rolled out of the way just as the one I'd clubbed had recovered and gotten a shot off. My arm came around and I got off two shots that'd been enhanced by my magic. Both hit the scum in the belly, shredding it; he stared in disbelief as his guts spilled out.

"Watching the life fade from the bastard's eyes while his blood soaked the floor became my entire world. I never realized that Gramps had taken care of the one at the front of the train and made his way back, or that a Confederate patrol had stumbled upon us and took care of the rest of the Yankees. Nor was I able to register that I was holding the gun in a death grip. The next time I was aware of my surrounding, I found myself standing twenty yards into the woods with my grandfather, the Sergeant in charge of the patrol and couple of his more seasoned men.

"My body started to shake as the adrenalin left me and I teetered on the edge of shock. Something made me look at the gun still in my hand and I recognized it as my Daddy's. At that moment his loss and killing those two men hit me all at once; I broke down and cried. Nobody said anything as my emotions overwhelmed me. When my tears started to die down, Grandpa Nate told me about the first man he ever killed. That story was followed by the other men giving their own accounts. It helped some but I still had a ways to go before I was anywhere close to being calm. Then Gramps told me that I only did what had to be done; that he was proud of me and so was my Daddy who was watchin' me from the Hereafter.

"When he finished speaking, I felt the warm presence of my father envelop me. It was like I could hear his voice him my head. '_You did good, son. You protected yourself, your family and that little girl that couldn't do it for herself. I'm proud of you, Harry, because you did what needed to be done. This is what we do; stand up for what is right, protect our loved ones and the innocent, and in the face of the ever increasing weirdness coming into the world – we stand against the Darkness and all that it hides. This is what it means to be a Texas Ranger. It's not some job that you do to earn a wage. It's a Calling and it's who we are.'_ By the time we got back to the train, my grip had loosened up on the pistol enough from Grandpa Nate to take it and put it in his duster pocket. I'd also had the time to make myself a promise that as soon as I was old enough, I was going to enlist… to one of the elite few… that I was going to be a Ranger like my dad and grandfather.

"By the time I'd gotten my Dispensation, this gun was almost a part of me from how much I practiced. During those long hours I learned that all those times my father made me watch him do the same thing he had actually been teaching me the basics of Hexslinging and how to use a gun like a wand in case I ever needed to. It rode on my hip during boot camp and later during my first few missions.

"This old Dragoon has seen a lot of miles between two Rangers. We both took good care of it and in return it saved both of our asses too many times to count. I planned to pass it on to my oldest child when the time came but that's pretty far off down the road a ways. In the meantime, I can't think of anyone I'd rather have it than you. Dora, darlin', I want you to keep this with you at all times. I understand more than most why you want to be an Auror but can't just rely on your magic alone. Wear it with pride, use it with honor and let it help bring back home safely to your family."

Harry finished speaking, put the gun back into the holster then slid the rig across the table to the stunned witch. Without another word, he spun on his heel and left the Breakfast Room. There wasn't a dry eye left behind him. It had taken a couple of minutes for Dora to get herself back under control but when she did, she raced after the man that had captured her heart. The one that didn't care that she was born a Metamorphmagus and had been angered at how people treated her like the only thing she was good for was being a sex toy because of her shape shifting. The one that made her laugh managed to make her blush and was always up for whatever she threw at him.

Lily dried her eyes and watched as the younger witch ran after her son. There was little doubt what she was going to do with him and that the couple would be bonded before lunch. What was doubtful was if the others would see them before dinner. The redhead gave a nod to her husband and Sirius called for Kreature – the Head Elf for the Black Family – to bring the Betrothal contract that was on his desk in the Lord's Study. It was soon signed by all concerned and the last bit of hesitancy fell away from the elder Tonks'. They finally agreed to leave with the rest of the family next year.

With the position of the future Lady Black being taken care of, Lily enlisted the others to help go through all the contract offers that Harry had been given during that first visit to Gringotts. There was still a Lady Potter that needed to be chosen, after all; not that she planned on finding her within those pieces of parchment. It was fortunate then that only three contracts made it through their combine scrutiny; those being for Susan Bones, Tracey Davis and a Su Li – all of which were offers for Line Continuation Contracts that would turn the girls into Consorts and allow them to keep their titles and carry on their family names.

The others were amazed when the redhead rejected the Bones Contract outright. Although Amelia was a good friend, the Most Ancient and Noble House of Bones had started out as a clan of Viking wizards that eventually married into a family of British necromancers. Even now, the last two surviving members of the family still dabbled in the Art – if only for divination purposes or to talk with their ancestors. Then again, it was the short sightedness of a previous Lord Bones that cursed his family when he swore a magical oath that pledged his line to defend Wizarding Britain against all threats until there was no Bones blood left. It had been during the English Civil War and Cromwell was as much a threat to magical nobility as he was to the Loyalists.

The last two contracts were set aside for further review later. In truth, Lily had arranged for a meeting with the Martel Matriarch at the Southern Colony the day after Harry took his OWLS. Her mother's plan was to lay the ground work to get their Sisters to leave this world and join them. It was the redhead's hope that her son would bond with one of them; which would go a long way in achieving the primary goal.

_Harry's bedroom ten minutes after he left the Breakfast Room…_

Dora knew where the fleeing wizard had gone and made a slight detour to the Medicine Chest in the bathroom in order to down the contents of the potion vial she'd stashed there. The Contraceptive Potion worked its way through her system before the Metamorphmagus got to his bedroom door. Without pausing to knock – the pair had long since abandoned the need for that nicety and given the other permission to their bedrooms whenever they liked because they knew that neither of them would abuse the trust being shown – she strode in and found Harry stretched out on the bed. Just from the slight shaking the Auror Cadet knew that her soon-to-be lover and bonded was still emotionally raw from his recent revelation.

Of course, she knew the real motivation behind his gifts just like the others so there was no need to mention it. Dark times were ahead for their world and that fact was driven forcefully home by what happened after the Quidditch World Cup Final that had been held over here. As the celebrations of Ireland's victory over Bulgaria were winding down, three groups of Death Eaters – twelve men in each – attacked the campgrounds around the stadium at separate points. Twenty-one women and young girls were raped and tortured on top of the one hundred and fifty that were injured that included the muggle family that owned the property. The attacks only stopped when the Dark Mark was cast over the stadium but, unlike during the war when that happened, nobody died. For some reason Fudge had pulled all the Security Details save one to patrol Diagon Alley. Regardless of the outcome of his upcoming trial, the ICW ordered a minimum of twenty years in prison over that.

Harry glanced over as the door to his room opened but he wasn't surprised to see who walked came in. As he'd gotten closer to Dora, their magic began to attune itself to each other and it was at a point where he was now able to at least sense her presence. The raven haired Ranger had had to make a conscious effort not to let his Allure slip as that was taking place. No, what surprised the teenager was the look of in the witch's eyes that was a combination of absolute love and trust tinged with a healthy dose of lust that she directed at him.

Once the door closed behind her, the twenty-year-old adopted a predatory demeanor just before she spun on her heel and apparated onto to the bed next to her now startled wizard. She managed to roll his body on top of hers then pulled his head down into a searing kiss. Harry responded half a heartbeat later. Neither one of them had been virgins for a long time so there was no awkwardness in their movements; in fact, each of them were more than happy to take their time going slowly – but not too slow – to ensure that they enjoyed every delicious inch of each other's bodies. The next hour passed just kissing and over the clothes fondling and they still taking their time getting to the main event.

Time stopped holding any meaning for the couple as articles of clothing were removed and all the newly exposed flesh was thoroughly exploded before they moved on. Dora never knew sex could be like this; the woman was already working through her third orgasm before her shirt hit the floor and she was still in her bra and the rest of her clothes for Merlin's sake. By the time they were both completely naked, the metamorph's sex was aching to be filled but not before she finally had a taste of steel hard member that looked like it would split her in half.

Harry let out a low moan as his lover swallowed him whole. The slightly older woman worked his member over good before he erupted for the first time down her throat. Being the gentleman that he was, he returned the favor when he kissed first up of her thighs and then the other. By that point she was already panting and the raven haired man decided the time had come to give her womanhood a proper worshipping. As her body calmed down from her latest climax, Harry sheathed himself inside Dora with a slow thrust…

**AN: Sorry, no trip to the Veela Colony like I planned because there was just too much information to get through in this chapter and twenty pages is long enough for a fanfic chapter thank you very much. Fleur will be show up next chapter and if you haven't guessed it yet, Su Li and Tracey Davis are the last members of Harry's Harem. The reason I chose them is because very little was done with their characters in canon and only slightly more in fandom. Besides, Su give me a reason to add some Hong Kong Action Sequences when the time comes and actually fits in with the Deadlands material. That being said, I've got some news for all y'all kiddies at home.**

***Spoiler Alert***

**Back in the AN in Chapter One, I stated that as of now I had only three active stories that I'm writing with Unchained being edited and added later on down the road. That wasn't entirely true. What I have, and will be working on until their finished, are two active series and a standalone that could end up with at least a sequel; and then there is Unchained.**

**The Midshipman Potter series has been plotted out through book four. The titles are HP 2 Midshipman Potter: Of Secrets, Serpents and Madmen; HP 3 Ensign Potter: Lord Black Strikes Back; and finally, HP 4 Ensign Potter: Dragon's Breath Armageddon. I might leave the series open for more stories after that but I don't know.**

**Gof: The Hexslinger's Tale is the first in a series of at least three. The next story will take place strictly in the Deadlands 'verse. I don't have a title for it yet or premise but that will get taken care of shortly. The third story is plotted out and spans both realities; the working title for that one is Potter, Texas Ranger: There Shall Be A Reckoning.**

**Lost Family is the only standalone. That may change after Season 4 of Lost Girl comes out next year but as of now I'm not planning on anything. **


End file.
